VAMP
by Airanke
Summary: Hidan is a half-breed with a confusing past and conflicted feelings. What happens when he falls head over heels for Konan and Pein doesn't take to kindly to it? Hidan x Konan. Picking this story back up.
1. Prologue

Mm, hi guys ). This is... a Vampire story. That is a little bit confusing. I mainly focus on the Akatsuki and their lives, but I need to make some things clear: Konan and Pein are **not** members of the Akatsuki, and are humans, not Vampires. All other Akatsuki members are Vampires. yes. Hope you enjoy; Alternate Universe is my forte xD. Characters will probably be slightly OOC or very OOC. / sorry about that.

**Prologue**

The city of Konoha was black against the darkening sky. The air was rather polluted, making it so the sky was always dark. Skyscrapers and apartment buildings rose from the ground, tall and oppressive. There was a few buildings that stood out in contrast to the dark grays of the taller buildings: the red fire department, the misty blue police station and next to it the large, long and underground prison. The white, prim and proper private school - that rich families sent their children to - was like a beacon of light in the rest of the city. Only humans attended this school. Humans were the only ones who could really do work, and even then they lived in the fear that the other inhabitants of their city would stalk them in the dark, long hours of the night.

A few streets wound down into the ghetto, and no street-smart human would ever dare to even look that direction. The ghetto neighborhood belonged to the Vampires. It always would, just like the tunnels belonged to them before their Prince decided to make peace with the Slayers, a group of humans trained solely to kill the Vampires.

The Prince of the Vampires was merciless to any Slayer that attacked him, and he became greatly feared throughout the world. The Government - so the large Slayer group was called - had sent in at least five Squads. The Squads consisted of five people, but even these specialized Slayers couldn't stand against the Prince.

In order to save the lives of the men and women who kept the city safe, the major of Konoha had approached the Prince in person. The humans had gathered around to protect him, Slayers in the front, and likewise the Vampires came out of manholes to surround their Prince. Many couldn't believe that the Vampires had been living beneath them the whole time.

The major agreed to the Prince's request, and offered the best his city could: the ghetto. The Prince and his Vampires seemed to be pleased to receive the sketchy part of town. In no time at all, the ghetto was thriving.

The major had a variety of public schools erected around the ghetto area and the area closest to it. The school fees were cheap so that the Vampires could afford to attend. Some human families enrolled their children in these schools. Much to the surprise of the Slayers (who weren't at all pleased with the major's agreement) the first day of school consisted of Vampires and human children being fascinated by each other. Hunger for blood was obvious in their eyes, but the Prince had sent several older Vampires to the schools to keep the young ones in check.

Eventually a kind of peace or "understanding" came between the Slayers and the Vampires. The two sides agreed that they wouldn't kill one another. The Slayers did warn the Vampires though, that if one of them killed a Slayer without cause, then the Slayers had every right to kill that Vampire. The Prince replied, through his grin, that if a Slayer killed a Vampire without cause, the Vampires had every right to kill that Slayer.

These were the terms they agreed upon years ago.

Konoha had a new major - the old major's son - and he kept his promise to his father that he wouldn't send the Vampires underground. The young major had even had the Prince help him run the city for the first few months of his role, and told the Prince that his Vampires had unknowingly stunted several criminals from Konoha and other cities by drinking enough of their blood to make them faint, making it easier for cops to get them.

After a moment of silence, the two had burst out laughing.

The ghetto was still rundown, but only on the outside. Inside the buildings, in the Vampire's rooms, the buildings were better kept. There was a popular club in a part of the ghetto that was closest to the public school called Saint Mary's (it really wasn't a religious school, but there were still a few nuns working there. They were as kind to their Vampiric students as they were to their human students). The club was called Dial, and it's pink neon sign sent light filtering into a room in one of the only houses in the ghetto - if the building could be called a house.

It was a long rectangular building with only two floors, and a ladder that led to the roof. Though only two floors it rose to the height of the Dial's fourth floor, making the house at least four stories high. The three rooms on the second floor were spacious, one of them currently unoccupied. The first floor had a large kitchen in it that was well furnished. In the living room there were a few couches that ranged from being made of leather to being bean bags. There were about fifteen bean bags; five of which had been patched numerous times. The table of the dining room was made of heavy oak, and so were the chairs. The flat screen T.V. was very out of place in the metal home.

It was owned by a human woman, and in her keeping she had a Vampire boy. She'd taken care of him since he was five, after his father was killed and his mother left the city. The boy had been devastated, and often wanted to sleep next to her at night. She would hold him tenderly in the morning when he awoke shivering with tears streaming down his cheeks. Eventually she had to get used to another Vampire. To this particular Vampire she had developed an attraction. He had introduced himself as the boy's "keeper". Upon her confused expression he explained that he was more or less the Vampire boy's father now. He also added that the boy's father requested him to watch over the boy if something ever went wrong.

When the boy entered seventh grade he was the heart throb of the school - and most of the city. One day he had brought home six other Vampires - excluding his keeper who was already at the house - and that was when his nightmares stopped. His mind was instead often filled with the stupid things his friends did to make him laugh. The woman was grateful and the boys were helpful as well.

Now the boy was a teenager of seventeen years, and was currently banging his head against the steel wall of his room. He was bored, and needed something to do. So he pulled his black bunny hug over his bare chest. He fingered the cold steal necklace around his neck. Even though it was only a string of round silver beads, it was precious to him. He smiled at the memory when he took it out of a box on his tenth birthday - '_or was it my ninth?'_ - he couldn't quite remember. He had been so happy with it, and the woman, his replacement mother, was overjoyed that he did - it had been the only thing she could afford.

He slipped out the house, nodding at a few Vampires when they spoke to them. Music flooded out of the open door of the Dial. He strode slowly down the dark street, pulling the hood over his head. Once he reached his destination he walked inside, the bell announcing his arrival. To his dismay, he was the only one there. He waved shyly at the man behind the counter, then went to approach the rows and rows of blood cigarettes, looking for the right kind.

The blood cigarettes had been designed to assist Vampires who had either lost their fangs or didn't have any to begin with. Humans had been amazed to learn that only the Prince could create a Vampire; no other Vampire had the power to do so.

_'He prefers... mint? No... oh, I remember,'_ he trailed his fingers lightly over the package labeled Raspberry, _'he likes raspberry._'

He looked over at the man behind the counter; his back was to the Vampire. The Vampire stared at the clock, letting his hand fall to his side. The packet came off the shelf and he closed his fingers over it, shoving both of his hands into his jeans pockets. He walked calmly out the front door, turned to his right and headed in that direction. As soon as he was out of the light coming from the shops window, he bolted. The man would've noticed by now. There would only be one pack missing from all the rows of cigarettes on the shelves.

He jumped over a black steel support beam, and he heard the man's startled yelp from way down where he was as the man noticed the teen and a packet of cigarettes was gone.


	2. Chapter 1: Harsh Realities

(Annnd here's chapter 1! I'll try to upload a new chapter every week, if possible. Oh and uh... the Akatsuki partners are mixed up. P I'll explain more next chapter.)

* * *

The teen Vampire wandered around an old, abandoned construction site, tossing the packet of cigarettes in the air. Any other day he would've been pleased with himself, but he knew that the store owner had noticed. He stopped suddenly and scowled out at the water of the harbor, the place the construction site was nearest to, _'what the heck am I waiting around for? I should be gone already...' _ he frowned and then sighed, and was about to make a quick escape when a white headlight caught him. He sprinted past the car as it came to a screeching stop.

"Damn. Ain't no way I'm getting away with this now," he growled, jumping over two support beams that created an 'x', "I really know how to get myself into trouble, seriously," he watched the other cars as they came to a stop around the other one, out of which stepped two men. He squinted, and then banged his head lightly against a metal beam. He recognized one of them as the Slayer captain, Thatch. He recognized Raptor, another Slayer captain, who stepped out of a different cruiser. If he didn't know better he would've thought that Raptor was a Vampire; the man was too smooth in his movements. The rest of the men were, he guessed, normal cops.

"They just don't use their lights anymore," he noted, chuckling a little.

Police officers cautiously stepped out of their cruisers after the Slayers gave a signal that it was safe, for the moment. A few of them pulled out hand guns, and the smell of nervousness reached the teen's nose.

_'Only the Slayers know I'm behind and above them, watching,'_ so he flipped off his perch and landed in front of them, right in the light. From his crouched position he turned his head and heard one of the officers swallow loudly before Thatch pulled out a small, glowing dagger. The weapon would burn the Vampire's skin if it made contact.

The teen grinned then, exposing his gleaming teeth and sharp fangs. His bright violet eyes glimmered with anticipation and a strand of his silver hair hung across his forehead. The bunny hug he wore had a signal red cloud in the center of it, on the front. He examined the cops before sighing.

"Aw, fuck."

Thatch merely watched when the teen bolted off to the right. He scowled at the other officers as they fired aimless shots at him.

"You'll never hit him. He's a Vampire; I've dealt with him before. Name's Hidan."

The others looked at him.

"Really, Captain Thatch? You've dealt with a Vampire before?" a cop called out as Thatch calmly stalked in the direction Hidan had gone. Raptor gazed after him, unperturbed. Sometimes Thatch hated the fact that nothing really bothered Raptor, but that's what made the man a good Slayer.

"I've dealt with several. The only reason why I'm still on the force is because I'm a Slayer," he ducked under a beam. Raptor followed him, and, not wanting to hang around with a Vampire on the loose, the other cops hastily followed.

"So why don't you kill him sir?"

Thatch was silent for a few moments. He stopped next to a beam and tapped the dagger thoughtfully against it.

"Slayers and Vampires have an... understanding right now. I can't attack a Vampire without risking all of your lives. And if I kill Hidan," Thatch threw the dagger at a black cat. It hissed and trotted away, "_he'll_ definitely kill me."

The other cops shuddered at the mere indication to _him_, the Prince of the Vampires. No one really knew what the relationship between the two were, but Thatch had a sinking feeling that it may be Hidan's father, who had been killed before the agreement had made. Thatch walked toward the dagger and bent over to scoop it up. He turned sharply when footsteps sounded off to his right.

"Comin' ta get me, Thatch?" Hidan's mocking voice called out. The cops looked around nervously, pointing their guns in every direction. Raptor squinted in the light the cruisers provided before nodding at an opening that led out to the water. Clearly, if he could, Hidan would make a break for the water. There would be no catching him then. Thatch tapped his dagger thoughtfully against his chin, regarding Hidan's relaxed silhouette.

_'Maybe I should just let him go. I could tell from that cashier's voice that he was sure it was a Vampire that had been in his store. Humans aren't so stupid as to look at the blood cigarette section,'_ he sighed, and let duty take over instead of common sense, "I was hoping you would be more co-operative, Hidan."

Laughter reverberated around them.

"You want me to co-operate with you, filthy Slayer?"

"Yes, I do."

Hidan's silhouette walked toward them and out of the shadows, spreading his arms.

"Okay. I'll co-op with ya, bastard."

Thatch sighed and rubbed his forehead, "hands behind your head boy." Hidan did so, but not quietly, like Thatch had hoped, "the hell's the point of this anyway? If anything you should be putting friggin' duct tape over my mouth or something. Seriously, you guys could be -"

"Quiet, Hidan."

" - dead as soon as you get over here. I have fangs. I'm not afraid to use them."

"Shut up."

"Make me, bastard."

"... you've already fed," Thatch commented, approaching the teen. Hidan cocked an eyebrow, "how can you be sure of that?"

Thatch froze, "you kill them, I have a valid reason to kill you."

Hidan huffed and made a face as though to say he felt insulted that Thatch thought he would kill a human just for a bit of blood. Suddenly he was in front of Thatch instantly, hands still locked behind his head. Thatch pressed the dagger against Hidan's throat instinctively. A sizzling sound was heard followed by a hiss from Hidan. The Vampire's skin was being burned by the blade. Hidan looked him evenly in the eye; he was as tall as Thatch.

"Don't forget your son goes to my damn school, Shikaku," Hidan reminded him, using his name, "wonder what'll happen to your kid -"

"Continue and I'll -!"

"And you'll what?" Hidan challenged, smiling triumphantly. Shikaku glared. Raptor took an uncertain step toward the pair.

"Captain Thatch...?" the other Slayer's tone was cautious, and in Hidan's mind, too smooth and pretty. Shikaku grabbed Hidan by his shirt collar and started dragging him toward the cruisers.

"Get in the cruiser, kid."

"Why don't you just -?" Hidan protested. Shikaku jerked him forward violently.

"In the cruiser."

"But -!"

"Now, Hidan!"

"Fine, fine. Sheesh," Hidan muttered. Shikaku released him and watched him stalk toward a car he knew all too well. '_How many times have I been in this thing? Some freakin' huge number like, fifty or somethin'..._ Hidan's thoughts trailed off. He caught a glimpse of some stars in the sky. They were a rare sight, so he stopped stalking and stared up at them.

'_You up there, dad?'_

Someone abruptly jerked his arms down from the back of his head.

"_Shit!"_ Hidan yelped, turning his head sharply. He narrowed his eyes at Shikaku.

"These again? I'll break these shackles like I did last time."

"Huh," Shikaku grabbed Hidan's hair and yanked his head back before slamming the teen against

the side of the cruiser, "you'll leave my son _alone..._ if you do anything to him..."

Hidan grinned viciously, "it's not what _I'd_ do to him. I wouldn't fuckin' touch him. It's what _he'd_ do."

Shikaku growled and shoved Hidan into the backseat.

* * *

Red smoke billowed into the air as a Vampire walked calmly through the halls of the stagnant smelling prison. Any other day he would've sent one of his friends, but he had to make his presence known eventually. It wasn't like he was trying to disobey his Prince, but Shikaku was _really_ starting to get on his nerves. The Slayer was too used to old customs, like Vampires listening to everything the Slayers said. The argument had ended along the lines of the Vampire saying, "times have changed, Shikaku. Get used to it. We aren't your slaves."

He approached the front desk, his eyes keeping a steady gaze on the receptionist. The woman behind the counter looked up and squinted at this bunny hug clad character walking toward her. The first thing she noticed was the cigarette.

"Hey, no smoking in -" the color of the smoke dawned on her, and she changed her mind, "never mind. Uh... you're here for -?"

"Hidan," came the smooth reply before she could finish asking her question. She glared at him. He had never been down here before, it had always been someone else. As he waited for her to digest the situation he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and blew red smoke into her face. She blinked, surprised to find that the smoke smelled sweet. She did cough a little though, when she inhaled the smoke. Then she remembered who he was here for and her expression clouded.

"Why would someone like you waste your time on that piece of -"

"Say it, and I'll snap your neck," the Vampire growled, a big hand closing around her neck. His grip wasn't tigth but it still frightened the woman a little. He knew she wasn't scared of him, even as she nodded and in a shaky voice said, "let - let me get C-Captain Thatch for you."

He chuckled and released her neck, sticking the cigarette back in his mouth, "that coward again?"

She tried to keep scowling at him, but the smile crept across her lips anyway as she turned and picked up the phone on the table behind her. She, the Vampire had learned from friends, didn't really like Shikaku. The reason they had decided on was because her boyfriend was a Vampire, and she didn't like the way Shiakaku treated the Vampires. She pressed a number and as she waited she asked, a little nervously, "so, who were those other guys who kept on coming down to bail him out?"

"Cronies. I came this time 'cause I felt like I had to make my presence known."

She giggled lightly. Into the phone she said, "Captain Thatch... someone's here to... yes, for him. Okay," she turned back to the Vampire, who was now leaning against the desk, "he's coming."

Brisk footsteps came to an abrupt stop.

"You -!" a startled voice called. Shikaku stared at the hooded man in disbelief.

"Yes, me, Shikaku," the Vampire said with a dramatic voice, like he was on a stage. The receptionist stifled her laughter. He knew that she knew he was just trying to make up for scaring her.

The Captain took a breath, "what do you want?"

"A stupid question. You have someone that belongs to me. I highly recommend you give him back."

"And if I don't?" a bluff.

"I'll spill some guts and see how many Slayers I can kill before the Government sends in a Squad," Shikaku paled as the Vampire grinned, baring his teeth, "or maybe someone else will pay the price, eh, Shikaku?"

"Leave my son out of this you leech!" Shikaku roared. The Vampire tilted his head.

"How many times have I told you my name, Slayer? At least I'm making a damn good effort to be polite."

"... Kisame."

"That's better," Kisame said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and crushing it in his fist.

"So it's you who always bails him out?"

"I'm rich."

Shikaku made a face. Kisame pushed the hood off his head, his blue skin glistening in the dim light. He ran a big hand through his dark blue tresses, spiking them up.

"Well?" he asked, his bright blue eyes glittering the same way as Hidan's.

"I'll go get him," Shikaku sighed, defeated. He nodded to the receptionist before turning on his heel and heading back down the hallway. He turned left and stopped at the second cell, glaring at the captive inside. Hidan grinned at him and stood.

"Lucky fiend," he growled under his breath as he opened the door. Hidan brushed past him and walked right into Kisame's chest. He stepped back before slipping the packet of cigarettes into Kisame's pocket. The shark-like Vampire frowned slightly and raised an eyebrow as Hidan continued down the hall. He stared at the younger Vampire's back before following.

"I hope I don't have to come back here, Shikaku... Hidan."

Hidan stiffened and stopped walking. Kisame stopped once he was standing directly behind his

ward. He rested his hand on Hidan's head.

"We'll be going, then," Kisame said off-handedly. Blue light consumed the two before they disappeared. Shikaku held up his hand when Raptor's group of Slayer's came dashing in.

"They were just leaving boys. No need to be alarmed."

Raptor nodded before shooing his men away.

* * *

"I could've given you money for these."

"I like surprising you."

"Me being surprised isn't worth going to jail for," Kisame argued, flipping over on the bed. Hidan looked up from his books. He sat at one of the only pieces of furniture in his room besides the chair he occupied, the couch and the bed: his desk. He had books from school strewn all over the top.

"They throw me in jail 'cause I'm a friggin' Vamp. I should get community service for that," Hidan muttered, looking down at his book again. He expected Kisame to say - again - that the cops couldn't do that because nobody ever knew when a Vampire might feel the need to feed on a human's blood. Sure, regular food did it's part in making the Vampires fit in, but they needed blood to survive. Instead Kisame sighed and pushed off the bed, shuffling over to Hidan's chair. He glanced over his ward's shoulder.

"You're going to ace that test, Hidan."

"Never hurts to study."

Kisame lowered his head and breathed against Hidan's neck. A small smile appeared on his lips when Hidan shuddered but it quickly faded. The area of skin around Hidan's throat looked raw, and Kisame was surprised he hadn't noticed earlier. He wondered why the cops hadn't searched Hidan for what he had stole, and it registered in the back of Kisame's mind that the cops were too afraid.

"Why study?" he asked, pretending not to notice the burn mark.

"I have nothing better to do."

Kisame abruptly picked him up and threw him into the nearest wall, which was, in actuality, quite far away. Hidan flipped in mid-air and ricocheted off the wall. He had been expecting that. It was Kisame's way of saying, "hey, I'm bored, spar with me", which Hidan did happily. He found himself quickly pinned to the floor, however, by Kisame's body. His head was pushed forcibly back, his neck exposed.

"So, where'd you get this burn from, and why didn't you heal it, oh healer of mine."

Hidan tried to talk but the only word he could get out was "I..." before Kisame rested a hand against his throat. The salt from Kisame's skin burned his throat. Hidan struggled.

"Shit, Kisame that _hurts_!"

"Of course it hurts," Kisame stated. He pressed Hidan down and lowered his head. Hidan's eyes widened briefly.

Kisame licked the edge of the wound, dry blood settling on his tongue, watching Hidan out of the corner of his eye. Hidan's reaction was easily predicted; he healed the wound. Kisame flipped off of him before closing his hand around the hilt of Samehada, which then appeared in a flicker of light.

"Get that scythe you've been saying you got. I intend..." Kisame averted his eyes and thought for a moment,"...to inflict great pain upon you!"

"Sure you do," Hidan agreed, waving a hand. He rose and leaned against the wall, holding his scythe defensively in front of his chest. Kisame grinned.

"You think that's going to keep you safe?"

Samehada embedded itself in the wall where Hidan had been standing.

"Why would I think something like that?" Hidan called, laughing slightly.

"Because you're the defensive type," Kisame whispered in Hidan's ear. Hidan gasped and looked to the side before he was slammed forward. Hidan managed to land flat on his feet and he launched himself off to the side before Kisame could get to him, whipping off the bunny hug. No point in getting it damaged and then having to explain to everyone that he and Kisame got into a "friendly fight". Kisame mimicked his action.

They glared at each other for a moment. Kisame always won spars and worse the older Vampire knew it. Hidan didn't like losing. Kisame knew that too. He liked making Hidan lose. Either way it was a win-win situation on Kisame's part. Hidan blew white light out of his mouth, startling and blinding Kisame temporarily. Kisame ducked then pivoted to the right, avoiding the scythe both times. He grit his teeth, snarling. Kisame had never fought Hidan with the scythe before. He didn't know how skilled his little healer was with it. This time, it would be trial and error on Kisame's part.

They clashed in the middle of the room, Hidan managing to keep Kisame from pushing him back. Kisame smiled a bit; they were equally matched.

Kisame morphed into water and Hidan wisely attached himself to the ceiling. His eyebrow twitched before he dropped to the ground. Water erupted around him.

"Go figure," he muttered under his breath. Now he was wet. He whipped around, his scythe almost piercing Kisame through the side. The shark stared worriedly at the scythe, even though he had blocked it with his huge sword. Hidan smiled before yanking his weapon back toward his body.

Kisame let himself get pulled toward Hidan. He laughed at Hidan's 'I hate you' expression before he let the momentum carry him right into his ward. Hidan went flying back while Kisame regained his balance. Kisame hefted Samehada onto his shoulder and scrutinized Hidan, who was leaning against the wall and breathing rather heavily.

"You've been spending all your time with school work haven't you?" Kisame asked, slowly moving toward Hidan. He couldn't believe the healer was sweating already. Sure, he had gotten wet because of the water blast but Kisame could tell the difference between sweat and water. And Hidan was _sweating_. Kisame's fist connected with the wall next to Hidan's head, showering both men with pieces of rubble. Blood trickled out of the cracks and dripped off of Kisame's knuckles when he pulled it away from the wall. Hidan rammed into him, throwing him off balance. The staff of the scythe hit Kisame's legs and he would've hit the floor if he hadn't somersaulted backwards. He blocked Hidan's next attack and noted that Hidan was rather unsure with the large weapon. His movements were slow - slow but powerful.

Hidan was surprised that they managed to spar in his room at all. Sure, it was a large room, but there was no way it could've been large enough to allow them the space.

'_Maybe we're just used to fighting in here by now'_, Hidan reasoned, pivoting to his left to avoid Samehada. Kisame's back was to the wall opposite the bed. Cornered was something Kisame did not like being. Samehada came out in front of him and Hidan quickly turned to his side.

The look on Kisame's face when the sword shaved off the skin on Hidan's arm made the silver haired Vampire worry. He noted that Kisame's eyes were wider than normal, his mouth open slightly.

Blood splattered all over the wall as Hidan's scythe blades pinned Kisame there; one blade through his chest, one through his stomach and one in the wall. Kisame dropped Samehada, his hands going limp.

"Shit. Kisame, what was that?" Hidan demanded, running a hand lightly over his bloody arm. Kisame stared at him for a moment, in a daze.

"I was afraid I..." Kisame's voice trailed off and his head drooped. Hidan reached forward with his uninjured arm and grabbed Kisame's chin, forcing him to look up.

"The hell? Kisame, if a Slayer found that out... man, the only thing they'd have to do is threaten my life and bam! you'd be all co-operative and shit."

Kisame sighed and leaned his head back so that his chin came out of Hidan's hand. They stared at each other in silence until Kisame coughed up some blood.

"Oh... right..."

Hidan jerked the scythe out of Kisame, tugged off what was left of his destroyed shirt, and pressed a hand to either wound. It took a few minutes but both of the wounds closed up securely. Once that was done Hidan turned his attention to his own arm. Kisame merely watched him before he decided to do something about all the blood on the wall. Hidan wiped the back of his hand over his forehead. Kisame rested a hand on his shoulder, then glanced at the clock on the desk. It read, in green neon lights, 11:30 PM. Hidan's care-taker still wasn't back yet.

"Hidan."

"Hm?" came a sleepy reply.

"Why isn't Kurenai home yet?"

Hidan frowned and looked away, "she's... doing business..."

Kisame muttered a soft 'oh' before removing his hand from Hidan's shoulder. Hidan walked over to the desk and switched off the lamp, which plunged the room into temporary darkness. Music drifted into the room through the walls, neon lights flashing outside the window. Kisame vaguely remembered being told there was a club next door.

Hidan lay down on the bed, exhausted from sparring and healing; it took a lot out of him. Kisame's weight abruptly settled on top of him. Hidan let out a startled laugh and Kisame chuckled.

"You know, any normal human would think we were gay, seriously."

"Bah, let them think. Mortals don't understand Vampiric relations."

"Konan does. Sakura does too."

"Mm, and so do Slayers, Hidan."

Hidan sighed, turning his head to the side. He remembered when he was a kid, when his dad would let him sleep on his chest. Those were always comforting memories, compared to what Hidan had now. Kisame rolled off of him and propped his head up on his hand, his elbow making a dent in the mattress. Hidan curled into a slight ball, causing Kisame to run a hand through Hidan's hair lovingly.

The action made Hidan screw his eyes shut. It reminded him too much of his father. In his mind Hidan saw him and he clung desperately to that image until Kisame's voice finally penetrated into his thoughts, "I'm reminding you of your father, aren't I?"

Hidan bit his lip, "you are."

"I'll stop, then."

"No! Don't... just..." but words wouldn't make a sentence for him. So he curled up against Kisame's chest instead. Kisame pulled the covers over them both, since separating from Hidan when he was like this really wasn't going to help the teen get over his father's death. Hidan's mother had agreed to let Kisame be Hidan's keeper. After all, Kisame was - really - quite old. He and Hidan's father had been good friends. Hidan was only seventeen; both in Vampire _and_ human terms, and There was only one reason that made Hidan's age explainable.

It was a reason Kisame didn't like to discuss, and was one that Hidan's mother had always tried to hide from everyone else when she was in the city.

And as Kisame stared at Hidan's tranquil face as the teen slept, he found it excruciatingly difficult to believe that Hidan was a half-breed.

* * *

(soo... how many of you thought that Hidan was getting the cigarettes for Kakuzu? xD!!)


	3. Chapter 2: Sunshine

(chapter two. Title is Sunshine because Itachi is cool. xD. Okay, so, the "partners" in the Akatsuki are as follows: Hidan/Kisame, Deidara/Itachi, Kakuzu/Tobi(plus Madara), and Zetsu/Sasori. There are four types of Vampiric relationships in my story and they are Romantic, Romatic father-son, Father-son, Brotherly. now guess which relationship goes with each partnership. OH and another thing. Ino and Karin are **older** than Sakura, Tenten and Hinata. Temari is older... becasue she is. Shikamaru and Kiba are older than all the other guys. yeah. enjoy. chapter 2 up because chapter 4 is half done ) )

* * *

"Morning, sunshine!" a voice called out from across the parking lot. Kisame looked up from inspecting Hidan's hand and stared with a horrified expression at Itachi, who was waltzing toward them with a rather large smile on his face. Deidara - whom Itachi had spoken to - looked even more horrified than Kisame, and he promptly whacked Itachi on the head and asked him what the heck was wrong with him. Itachi rubbed his head and pouted before looking at Hidan, who leaned back and squinted in response. Itachi sighed and tugged at his pony tail to tighten it.

"Am I really that scary when I try to be happy?"

"That is a positive yes. A very, _very_ positive yes... yeah," Deidara said rather quickly. Itachi glared at him, his red eyes glistening.

"Itachi. I hate the fact that I can never ever tell when the hell you need to feed or not," Kisame commented. Hidan tried pulling his hand out of Kisame's; the shark's grip tightened. Hidan sighed and stared off into space. He wondered where the members of the Akatsuki.

"Man, the others are damn late."

"... why am I holding your hand?"

Hidan slowly turned his head to Kisame, who was staring at his hand, wondering why he was holding it.

"Because you're Kisame."

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"Are you okay? You're acting all weird..." Hidan said worriedly. He rested a hand against Kisame's forehead. Kisame blinked and came out of his apparent stupor. He burst into laughter.

"Heh. I'm alright, Hidan," upon seeing Hidan's unconvinced expression Kisame panicked, "hey, don't look at me like that."

"I got some blood yesterday. And it was Dei's fault," Itachi drawled in response to Kisame's earlier comment. Deidara's face turned into a tomato.

"Was not!"

"Was too."

They would have continued their useless argument if Kisame hadn't intervened, "both of you shut up."

The school bell rang and students began filing up the stairs. Hidan tossed his head to look over his shoulder from where he sat on Kisame's car hood. He caught sight of blue hair. He stared.

It wasn't everyday he saw Konan without Pein, even though the two had broken up already - her call. She looked like she was trying to stay away from the carrot head. Her head snapped in his direction and he tensed. He relaxed when a grin broke out over her pretty features as Ino approached her. She still put that heavy blue eye shadow on, still had red lips and pink cheeks. And that lip piercing of hers. Hidan always wondered why she'd gotten it.

"Hello? Hidan?" Kakuzu asked, waving a hand in front of Hidan's face. Hidan blinked, '_when did Kakuzu get here?'_

"Oh, Hidan. Got distracted again did ya?"

Hidan's face started turning red. He clenched his jaw and growled out that he didn't get distracted before turning and heading toward the school, unconsciously dragging Kisame with him. Kisame wisely let go of his hand and turned to Sasori.

"Don't get started on that with him."

"Oh come _on_ Kisame! It's obvious that he likes her."

Kisame gave Sasori a look that clearly said 'you-obviously-don't-know-him-as-well-as-I-do,' while out loud he said, "mm-hmm and it's obvious that you like Ino. Lay off."

Sasori glared up at Kisame, "fiiiiiiine," he whined, before clutching Zetsu's arm. The black and white Vampire sighed at the red head. Kisame stretched and looked toward the school, now that the "normal" students had gone up. There were several other Vampires hanging around the bottom stairs, waiting for the "normal" students in their school to get up to the first floor. Hidan was already on the first floor, standing next to Shikamaru. They were having a small conversation, both of them leaning against the cement block of the window. This school was an open hallway school, so there wasn't any glass. The hallways were long and wide, and the openings were placed at equal intervals, and were rectangular in shape. The human leaned over more and started whacking the side of the cement wall with his palm. He looked up at Hidan and smiled and Hidan smiled back, though his expression was guarded.

Tobi waved his hand at Kakuzu and the older Vampire nodded at him before sauntering off, a little person with an orange mask on his shoulder. Kisame nodded at the rest of his boys. He stood by his car, watching them walk very slowly toward the stairs until another Vampire called out, "hey, Akatsuki! You guys plan on being late or something?"

The group of five scampered up the side of the building, Deidara grinning like a madman. Itachi barely had time to think of a reaction before Deidara leapt on him and demanded that he be carried the rest of the way to class. Itachi complied, and Kisame laughed.

* * *

"I'm going to fail this test," Konan whined. Ino shook her head at her blue-haired friend.

"Don't say that Konan. You'll pass."

"I'll probably get a fifty."

"Konan, stop it."

"It's true, Ino! Besides," Konan stared blankly down at her math textbook, "math is my worst subject."

"Well, it _is_ your worst subject. So why didn't you ask Pein for help? He's good at math."

"I know that, but he's -" Konan bit her lip and averted her eyes when Hidan walked by. He glanced at her before approaching one of the desks at the back of the classroom. Ino raised an eyebrow in question and smirked.

"Ooh, Konan. What was that?"

Konan flushed, "n-nothing," she hissed, closing her textbook as the class started. She spared a glance over her shoulder when Ino got distracted by Karin and watched Hidan as he tapped his pen mindlessly against the top of the desk. His brows furrowed and his lips pursed slightly before he looked up. Konan instantly turned her head back to the front.

'_He just had to look up didn't he?'_ Konan fumed to herself. Ino poked her forehead, causing her to look up.

"What were you going to say earlier before Hidan walked by?"

"Um, well..."

"Come on, Konan. Tell me."

"Pein's not as good at math as Hidan is."

"Oh yeah. Good point. There's no class in this school that Hidan _doesn't_ ace," Ino propped an elbow against Konan's desk and leaned forward, "so why don't you ask him to tutor you?"

Konan's face turned bright red, and just when she was about to argue with Ino about that prospect their teacher, Morino Ibiki, walked in. Ino took her seat and the class settled down as Ibiki prepared to hand out the tests. Konan nibbled on the end of her pen. Ibiki set the test down in front of her and proceeded to the other desks.

"You may begin."

Konan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the questions were simple, squared problems. One of them happened to be two squared, one problem Konan didn't have to think very hard to do. Part two was a bit more difficult, like square roots and cubes. Konan rushed through those; she tended to when she knew that she'd spend _too_ much time on them. She glanced back at Hidan more than once, and felt extremely intimidated for doing so. He looked almost bored with the questions. He started tapping on the desk with his fingers and Ibiki glared at him, though there was a smile on the teacher's face.

"Hidan, could you at least pretend you're having difficulties with one of them?"

Konan couldn't help laughing a little with the rest of the class.

"Ha ha. Why don't you come back here and make me, seriously," Hidan challenged. Konan guessed that he had his feet propped on the desk now. Ibiki's eyebrows flew up before he focused on the papers before him.

"Careful, Hidan. I might just take you up on that."

Konan ignored the rest of what the two said before Ibiki told Hidan to be silent. The boy had sighed.

'_Part three... oh, gods help me...'_ Konan prayed silently. Part three was problem solving. She _despised_ problem solving. A glance at the clock told her she had spent too much time on part two. She had to hurry if she at least wanted marks for showing her thoughts.

The bell rang twenty minutes later, and several students rushed through the last question. Ibiki deliberately collected Konan's test last. He waited for the other students to leave before he called to her. She took a deep breath before turning around and walking back into the classroom.

"Konan I - oh goodness, girl, don't look so worried! Anyway, I've noticed that you've been having difficulties with this class lately. I don't want you to fail."

Konan chewed on the inside of her cheek, "I just... don't get it..."

"Then why don't you ask me to help you?"

"... I feel stupid."

Ibiki gave her look and she lowered her head, "tell you what. If you're too embarrassed to come here after school," he chuckled lightly when a blush flitted across her cheeks, "I recommend that you get a tutor. And I suggest Hidan."

Konan's head snapped up, and she blushed furiously. She was about to protest but Ibiki cut her off, "either you ask him or _I'll_ ask him to. Your math grade is pulling your average down, and you have excellent grades in your other subjects. You're a good student Konan, and as a teacher I want to see you improve. At least try for a seventy."

She took a deep breath, "okay. I'll ask him."

"Okay, now go before you're late."

Konan flew out of the classroom.

* * *

As she dashed down the hall to her history class, Konan wondered when she should ask Hidan to tutor her.

'_I could ask him now... no, I don't want to make a scene with Pein. Then after school is the best choice,'_ she decided. She slid into her seat next to Ino as the bell rang.

"What took you so long?" Ino hissed in a hushed voice. Konan glanced at the board before opening her textbook to the page written in white chalk then responded, "Ibiki-sensei kept me for a few minutes."

"Oh. What for?"

"Just to tell me he doesn't want me to fail my math course," Konan whispered, eyes skimming over the text before her.

"And did he suggest a tutor?" Ino probed, eager to know if the teacher had.

"Yeah, he did," Konan responded. She glanced at Ino and instantly wished she had said no.

"Did he suggest Pein? 'Cause you know, Konan, you two should get back together. You guys were the best couple and he is _such_ a good guy -"

Ino didn't quite understand why what happened next happened. Konan was suddenly on her feet, yelling at Ino that Pein was the only person the blonde ever thought about and that no-he-_wasn't_-the-suggestion-_thank_-_you_-_very_-_much_. Then the blue-haired girl stormed out of the classroom. Anko, the history teacher blinked several times at the door, before stomping over to Ino's desk.

"What did you say?"

* * *

Hidan didn't really want to admit he was worried but he was. It was easy for Kisame to sense, even before Hidan asked him to check on her. Mind connections between Vampires were common, especially if they were related in some way. Kisame just figured the Akatsuki were a bunch of odd-ball Vampires; none of them were related to each other, except through friendship or parents.

'_Maybe it's because of everything we've been through together,' _Kisame reasoned, shifting through the door of the girls' bathroom and leaning against it, watching Konan silently and waiting for her to notice he was there.

He could see the tears streaming down her face, and he could see that her make-up was ruined. He wondered what exactly had made someone like her cry as he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a lighter and a cigarette - she was a tough girl. He lit it and when he looked up Konan was staring at him, as he had expected.

"Don't look at me like that, girl."

"You're in the _girls'_ bathroom. I have every right to look at you like this," she said in a shaky voice. He smiled before pushing off the door and walking toward her. She eyed the red smoke coming from the cigarette in his mouth.

"... a blood cigarette? Where do you get those?" she asked, quickly wiping at her eyes.

"A place that no pretty girl like you should go," he replied as he came to stand beside her. She reached up but he was quicker. He held the red stick high above his head.

"I don't think so, Konan."

"Why not?" she demanded. He arched an eyebrow at her, guessing that her attitude was related to whatever had happened in the classroom.

"I'd rather you not have to go to the hospital from blood inhalation. Do you have any idea how dangerous these are for you?"

"No. I've only seen peo - _Vampires_ with them," she corrected, still trying to get the cigarette from him. She pressed her body against his chest roughly. He couldn't say that he didn't like it, but... he had someone. Kisame sighed before stepping closer to her. Konan's tailbone was pressed forcefully against the edge of the sink and she hissed at him. He glared down at her, his bright blue eyes glittering violently. Konan vaguely wondered why the Vampire's eyes glittered like that before her vision started swimming. He continued to stare down at her in an almost relentless sort of way. Reality suddenly came rushing back after a minute and Konan found herself leaning against the sink, breathing a bit heavily. Kisame stood against the door again, with the cigarette in his mouth. He appeared to be contemplating something.

"What. Did you just do?"

"I rummaged through your thoughts, and pulled up the classroom scene. Oh, and the conversation. So that's why you were crying huh?"

Konan glared angrily at the floor. Kisame rubbed the back of his neck.

"He's worried about you, ya know."

Konan looked up at him, "who?" she certainly hoped he didn't mean Pein. Kisame grinned.

"Hidan."

Konan blinked several times. She was sure she was hearing things. Hidan was worried about her? She stared at Kisame blankly while he turned his head to look over his shoulder.

"You better head back. You don't want your mom to come down here do ya?" Kisame suggested. Konan bit her lip before proceeding to clean up her face. She approached the door and Kisame went through her hand when she reached for the doorknob. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him, startled. He smirked before he faded away completely. Konan shook her head. She pulled open the door and walked right into Anko.

"Oh! There you are! You shouldn't just go running out of the classroom like that, sweetheart!" Anko exclaimed as she embraced her daughter. Konan leaned against her.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to run out like that."

"Well, come back to class. You'll need to know what I'm teaching now for the up coming test."

Konan obediently followed her mother.

* * *

Hidan stretched sleepily as the school day came to a close. He cracked open an eye to find Konan staring at him. Again.

'_Man,' _he mused when she looked away blushing, '_that's like, the twentieth time today or something I've caught her staring at me like that.'_

"Give her credit, Hidan," a deep voice muttered close to his ear. Hidan looked over at Kakuzu, "does Tobi seriously make you drive him to school everyday?"

"No. It's," an orange masked, black haired miniature person hopped onto Kakuzu's shoulder and started tugging on his hair. Kakuzu grabbed it, "actually this little bugger's fault. Hidan, meet 'evil-mini-Tobi' also known as Madara," Kakuzu held out the nuisance. Hidan eyed Madara skeptically.

"Dude. You're distracting me from the last five minutes of my last class of today, in which we are practically doing nothing," Hidan complained, poking Madara in the head. Madara squeaked a little and tried to get out of Kakuzu's grasp. Kakuzu crushed him and he squeaked like a teddybear. Hidan jumped, the teacher - Iruka - looked up, and the students' all turned their heads. Kakuzu waved Madara around in the air. The plushie-like person screeched at the top of his voice.

"He sounds like a fucking peacock!" Hidan exclaimed, then quickly clapped his hand over his mouth, his face going scarlet. Kakuzu couldn't help releasing a laugh as the bell rang. Both Vampires looked over toward the door when Hidan removed his hand from his mouth, muttering curses under his breath. The Akatsuki normally met in Iruka's classroom after school, since Iruka was one of the only Vampiric teachers in the whole school.

Konan had been waiting impatiently for the bell to ring. She suppressed her giggle at Hidan's outburst though she did agree with him that this little Madara person sounded like a peacock. She hastily shoved her books into her bag and darted out the door.

'_One minute... record timing_,' she cheered to herself. She stopped outside her locker, deposited her textbook and headed straight for the school gates when a flashback of Ibiki's threat penetrated into her mind, _"If you don't ask him, _I_ will."_

Konan stopped mid-stride and forced herself to turn around. She took a deep breath before heading back toward the lockers. Ino waved at her as she returned and Konan smiled. It was going to be a long wait, she knew that much.

Hidan laughed loudly at Itachi's expense as Deidara chased the raven-haired teen around the classroom.

"It was an accident I swear!" Itachi screeched, dodging Deidara's attack. The blonde had a baseball bat made of clay in his hands. There was a furious glint in his visible sea blue eye as he swung the bat at Itachi again.

"You touched my ass on purpose you - you - you imbecile!" Deidara's cry could be heard over all the laughter in the small classroom. Iruka was also laughing and shaking his head. He had tried to break up the two once before, and that had ended in Kisame getting involved. Not a very pretty sight, since the leader had been rather ticked off for most of the day. Kisame hadn't taken kindly to it when Deidara had accidentally hit Iruka with his ever-present bat.

Hidan stood, clutching his stomach. Kisame looked up at him, eyes demanding an explanation, "I'm gonna' go change," was Hidan's response. He exited the classroom and chuckled at Itachi's pleas for mercy and Deidara's screeching. He headed for the changing room, taking his time. It would take a while for Deidara to simmer down, and then they would be heading out. Hidan sighed. He walked into the dank changing room, and stood in one of the stalls. No point in closing the door - he was a Vampire after all. '_Inhuman abilities for the win_,' he mused to himself as he pulled on his short and ragged denim vest. He put his sunglasses on his head; he never did wear them. The only reason he had them was because his father had worn them. He tilted his head back, then shoved his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. On his way out he almost collided with Pein, but he side-stepped the human. Pein stopped and turned to glare at Hidan's back. Hidan ignored him. He didn't like looking Pein in the eyes, or seeing all those piercings. He would never admit it out loud, but he thought Pein was intimidating.

He trotted back up the stairs and started on his way back to the classroom, but remembered that he had meant to get something out of his locker.

'_Aw, whatever. I'm gonna' go get the book. I can hear those bastards from here,'_ he decided as he swiveled on his foot and headed towards his locker. He tossed his head back though, when he noticed that Ino, Karin and Konan were hanging out next to his locker. The red head and the blonde appeared to be keeping Konan from taking off. They didn't notice his arrival until he greeted them, "hello, ladies. What c'n I do for ya?"

His attempt at an accent sent Ino and Karin into giggling fits, while Konan stared shyly down at the floor, shifting away from his locker door. He unlocked it, pulled out the book and locked the door in less than thirty seconds. He pressed his hand against the face of the locker and leaned against his arm, examining Konan.

"Oh, well, I guess we'll be leaving then, Konan. Don't you forget now!" Ino called as she and Karin headed off. Hidan watched, amused as Konan swallowed lightly.

"Um..."

"What?"

"Well, uh, I - you see..."

Hidan resisted the urge to laugh, "having trouble are we?"

"Oh shut _up_ you aren't helping..." she growled, looking away. She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest when a gust of wind suddenly came up, causing her pale blue skirt to lift. One of her hands instantly shot down to hold it in place, and she glared up at Hidan's smug expression. He leaned fully against the locker.

"What, you need help with math or something?"

"... how'd you know?"

"Do I honestly have to tell you, Konan? I can read your mind, seriously," he stated, his eyes going wide as he leaned down to stare her directly in the eye. She drew back, an unimpressed expression on her face that was disarmed by the red color skittering across her cheeks.

"That's not funny," she hissed, tugging her skirt down a little too far. Hidan quirked his eyebrow and glanced down at her now slightly exposed stomach.

"I'm just kidding, Konan. Kisame can read your mind. He rummages around sometimes, pulls up things of interest to him. Then he tells me. That's how I know," the girl looked visibly upset, and she was biting her lip so hard Hidan was afraid she was going to make herself bleed. He would probably bite her if she started bleeding - she smelled so heavenly. He took a step closer to her and wrapped an arm around her head. She let him draw her into his chest.

"Hey, look, you don't have to ask me _now_, seriously. Talk to me tomorrow. It's kinda' obvious that you're nervous," he muttered. He felt her nod against his chest before he released her head. She kept her eyes downcast as she all but fled down the hall, her face bright red.

"The hell -?" were the only words that left Hidan's mouth before Sasori tackled him to the ground.

* * *

(Anko is Konan's mother **because I can!!**)


	4. Chapter 3: Tutor Tutor

(here you goes. Chapter 3 of VAMP, rightfully named Tutor Tutor. Cliffhanger? A LITTLE BIT! :P. Poor innocent readers. Oh yes. Poor you. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter; I know I did!)

**7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p**

**Chapter 3: Tutor tutor**

"Sasori! Get off!" Hidan snarled. The red-headed Vampire rolled off of him, snorting. Zetsu stomped over, scooped Sasori up and threw him over his shoulder. Sasori pounded his fists against Zetsu's back, "oh come on, bro! Put me down!"

"Not happening."

Sasori made a frustrated sound and Hidan stood. He leaned against his locker, intent on filling his thoughts with the book. It never did him any good to think about his parents - never did anyone else any good either, because it usually put him in a fowl mood. He flipped open the book and skimmed the first page before it was snatched out of his grasp by Kisame. Hidan sighed and tried to look angrily up at Kisame, but he smiled anyway.

"You read this book three times in fifty minutes. I ain't gonna' let you read it anymore."

Hidan reached for it anyway, "gimme."

Kisame held it above his head, "no."

"Yes," Hidan yanked his arm down. Kisame put it behind his back and Hidan reached around him, "no."

"Yes!"

"... that is _such_ a typical father-son argument," Kakuzu commented, shaking his head. Both Kisame and Hidan gave him a look before Kisame deposited the book back into Hidan's locker. He leaned against the door and lit a cigarette. Hidan scowled, "hey!"

Kisame blew smoke in his face, "what?"

Itachi zoomed by with Deidara on his back. Said blonde was screaming "faster" at the top of his voice. Hidan's eye right eye twitched in annoyance.

"Sometime's you're just so freakin' - ugh!"

He threw his arms up then turned and stormed off down the hall, Kisame watching him with narrowed eyes, confused. As Hidan made his way down the stairs - Itachi was making his way back up Deidara still screeching - Hidan tried to think of anything besides his parents. He didn't want his bad mood to rub off on everyone else. He wondered why he always thought about them _after_ school.

_'I'd been in that room, the night dad was killed. I was under the - the desk. Yeah, the desk. And dad was fighting and - _damn it!_'_

Hidan reached the bottom of the stairs and bashed his forehead against the wall.

_'Uh, Konan, think about Konan...'_ he thought for a moment, paled and blushed at the same time, then shook his head.

'_That didn't work...'_ a voice broke his thoughts, "Hidan?"

He welcomed the interference but turned away from Kisame, "huh?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing that I'd want to talk about with _you_, seriously," Hidan replied as he began to walk away. Kisame appeared in front of him, eyes narrowed.

_'I hate it when he does that.'_

"Talk to me, kid. If I'm doing something wrong, tell me. I'm here to look after you."

Hidan rubbed his temple with one hand, "'s not you. It's me. School takes my mind off of them but..."

Kisame's mouth made an "o" then his brows furrowed, "that's why you got the book."

Hidan looked at him and gave him a lop-sided smile, "yeah."

"You should've told me."

"I don't like being a burden, seriously."

Fury skittered through Kisame's eyes, and Hidan stumbled back onto the stairs, eyes going wide. He ended up sitting on one as Kisame glared down at him.

"A _burden?_ Who the hell gave you _that_ idea? I'll kick 'em to the other side of the moon," he yanked Hidan up to his feet by his collar. The sunglasses fell off and Kisame absentmindedly caught them, "don't you go thinking for a damn _second_ that you're a _burden_ to me."

Kisame let him go, and Hidan looked down at his feet. Kisame released a sigh and settled the sunglasses back on Hidan's head, tucking a strand of hair back behind Hidan's ear. His hand lingered at the side of Hidan's neck and Hidan tilted his head forward. Kisame wrapped an arm around his head, pulling it down to his shoulder. Hidan clutched at the sides of Kisame's bunny hug, shaking.

"Yo, Ki - same?" Sasori stuttered. Kisame shot him a death glare. Sasori clamped his jaw shut, eyes wide. The other five poked their heads around the corner of the stairs, all staring with wide eyes except for Kakuzu, who was most likely doing it for Tobi.

"Well," Kisame started, rubbing Hidan's hair, "you guys up for a movie?"

"Only if you pay, yeah," Deidara said before grinning and laughing. Itachi flicked his nose. Kisame chuckled, "don't I always?"

"Sheesh, Kisame, we're going to **make you broke one of these days**," Zetsu commented, coming down the stairs. The others followed his lead. Kisame shrugged and turned around, his arm dropping to Hidan's shoulders. Hidan kept his eyes downcast. He shifted so that he stood straighter. Kisame cocked an eyebrow, "a movie it is then. Which one?"

They were making their way toward the parking lot, where Kisame and Kakuzu's cars lay waiting. Deidara bounced up next to Kisame; it was usually him who decided what they would watch. He looked thoughtful, then asked, "any of you seen Dark Knight, yeah?"

"Seen it," Sasori and Zetzu said together, before glancing at each other and laughing. Deidara's mouth drooped, then he brightened up, "oh! Let's go watch Kung Fu Panda!"

Silence followed his suggestion. It took him a moment to realize that he was the only one walking. He turned and glared at them, "what, yeah?"

Itachi released a startled laugh, "Kung Fu Panda?"

"Oh come _on_! It looks really funny. I saw the trailer. Like, seriously, it's about a Panda named Po who -"

"Okay, okay we'll watch it. Don't go telling us everything," Kisame said, continuing forward. Hidan released a breath out of his nose. Kisame squeezed his shoulders, making him smile. Kisame looked down at him and muttered, "I suppose something funny will do a better job at taking your mind of them than something dark huh?"

"Yeah..."

Kisame dropped his arm from Hidan's shoulders and pulled out his keys. Hidan turned around and settled against the back of the car, "I call shotgun, seriously."

"What?! That's not fair! You always sit in the front!" Sasori complained. Hidan started laughing and Zetsu's palm connected with his forehead. He glared at Sasori from under his hand

"**You know, lil' bro,** you're gonna' have to live with it. H**e called, you missed it, you sit in the back.**"

Sasori pouted but proceeded quietly into the back of the car. Hidan and Kisame were already settled in. Zetsu plopped down beside the red-head, who glared at him. Kisame pulled out followed by Kakuzu.

"I was beginning to think you boys wouldn't show up."

This comment sent the Akatsuki into a fit of laughter. The clerk who was retrieving their tickets smiled a small smile and added, "I just didn't think you guys were going to go to... Kung Fu Panda. It's not what I thought any normal Vampire would go to."

"In case you haven't noticed, we aren't normal Vampires, yeah," Deidara struck a Kung Fu pose, "we're Kung Fu Vampires!"

Hidan's palm smacked the back of Deidara's head. The blonde made a face that sent Sasori into fits of hiccups.

"I had no idea **you could laugh like that**," Zetsu commented. Sasori continued to hiccup, and almost choked on his own saliva. Hidan released an exasperated sigh and quickly headed over to the theater. The others followed, Kisame falling in step beside him.

Once he sat down, Hidan felt calmer. He relaxed, waiting for the movie to start. There was an opening animation about a magician and his bunny. It had everybody in the theater laughing in no time. Sasori had started laughing so hard, in fact, that he was rolling around in the aisle, tears running down his cheeks. Zetsu just sat there next to Itachi - who was trying miserably to keep a straight face - with his head in his hands, shaking from laughter. Before the feature presentation, Sasori calmed down and settled back down in his seat, taking deep, calming breaths.

Only to start laughing again when Po, the main character, made his appearance. Hidan was mostly laughing through the whole entire movie, but when it came to the point where Shifu was discussing how Po would never be the dragon warrior with Oogway, Hidan was silent. The whole theater went silent when the turtle dispersed into cherry blossom petals, and flew away into the sky, while having Master Shifu cry out to him, begging him not to leave.

_'Go figure. Every happy movie _has_ to have a sad part in it, seriously,'_ Hidan frowned, his fist clenching.

By the time Po had to fight Tai Lung, everyone was laughing again. The fight - though probably meant to be serious - was hilarious at certain points. Like when Po hit Tai Lung sky high with his stomach. And when the two were falling down the stairs and Po landed on Tai Lung's head, effectively causing brain damage with his butt. When the movie was over, the Akatsuki stayed behind in the theater for a few minutes, before hi-tailing it out the back entrance. They all laughed as they ran, jumping over a few walls and ending up at the skate park.

"Oh man! That fight was hilarious! The best ever."

"I agree, yeah."

"Dei, I'll hand it to ya, you picked a good movie," Kisame commented, lighting his cigarette. Deidara did a little happy dance, "told ya I can pick good movies, yeah."

"... Kisame?"

Kisame's head snapped up and the cigarette almost fell out of his mouth. He strode over to the pink haired girl with bright emerald eyes, and pulled her into his chest. She sighed happily, wrapping her arms as much she could around his broad torso.

"Sakura..." he looked down at her. Hidan eyed her uniform; so she went to the private school. The white painted school that was on the opposite side of town, the farthest from Hidan's. The skate park was kind of the half-way point of both schools. He sauntered over to the couple, "so, is this the girl you talk non-stop about sometimes?"

If Kisame's face could turn red, it would've. He glared at Hidan and Sakura looked up at him. Then she poked him in the chest, "and _you_ must be Kisame's little ward. What, are you jealous?" she quirked her eyebrow at him. Hidan's left eyebrow twitched, and he poked in the forehead while saying, "you have a wide forehead, seriously."

Sakura made a face and then buried it in Kisame's chest. Kisame gave Hidan an exasperated look, "aw, Hidan. She gets teased about that at her school."

Hidan put his hands up in surrender, "I'm not _tryin_' to tease her, I was just pointing it out, seriously. Don't get all protective on me," Hidan made a face, "you do that enough."

From somewhere in the vicinity of Kisame's chest, Sakura's laughter could be heard, and Kisame smiled.

**7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p**

"So she's the girl?"

"Yeah, she is."

"She's cute."

"Of course she is."

"... you're going to agree with every good thing I say about her aren't you?"

"Yes I am."

"I think her forehead suits her. If she didn't have that forehead... I don't know. She wouldn't be cute any more."

Kisame burst into uncontrolled laughter, "oh, so now. You think. Her forehead. Suits her?" he managed to ask through gasps. Hidan frowned, sighed and started up the stairs to his room. He rubbed his forehead, "I thought it suited her when I saw her. I just felt like pointing it out, seriously."

"Just felt like pointing it out," Kisame mocked, before grinning up at Hidan, who was staring down at him from the floor above. Kisame got up and headed for the door, "well, I'm gonna' go. I'll see you tomorrow, kid. I don't think you'll need me tonight," he hesitated anyway, then asked, "do you have to be at school early tomorrow?"

Hidan sighed, "yeah, I do. Need to work on something with Shikamaru," he clenched the handrail, his knuckles turning white, "can't believe Kabuto-sensei put with him, of all people..."

Kisame's smile faltered, "well. I'll come by early then. You better be up and at 'em. I ain't waiting," and then he was gone and the door swung closed. Hidan glanced at the kitchen; Kurenai, his caretaker, wasn't home yet. She seemed to be staying out really late these days. Hidan turned and walked into his room, taking his vest off, then his shirt and tossing them onto his chair as he walked by. He undid his belt and threw it to the side, before lying down on the bed, hands folded behind his head. He stared at the ceiling.

And waited.

He reached over to his table top after ten minutes had passed and picked up the small ball that was there. He threw it at the opposite wall and caught it when it came flying back. He continued to do this until he heard the door downstairs open. He heard Kurenai mutter a phrase along the lines of, "I hope I didn't wake him up..." and Hidan promptly rose from his bed and stalked to his door. He pulled it open and leaned against the rail. It was dark for her, but not for him, "you plan on coming home late every night or what? And no, you didn't wake me up."

Kurenai's head snapped up and she stared up at him wide-eyed, "you stayed up waiting?"

Hidan jumped down and landed softly on his feet. He strode over to her and grabbed her biceps, "technically, I did. Where the hell have you been?"

She blinked at him and looked away. A low growl made it's way out of Hidan's mouth, "I'm beginning to wonder who's taking care of who here, seriously."

Kurenai let a bubble of laughter escape from her lips, "I can never tell whether you're being serious about your anger or not."

"Well, I'm not being serious about it right now I guess," his eyes softened and he could read from her eyes that she knew he had been worried, "but I don't like not knowing where you are."

"You also don't like waiting up for people."

"Damn right I don't."

Kurenai rubbed at her face with her hand and mumbled, "you should get to bed. You have school tomorrow. And don't tell me that you're a Vampire and you can stay up really late because you and I both know you're half-human, and therefore you need more sleep than regular Vampires do."

He tugged her hand down from her face and pecked her on the lips. She stood there, unmoving and wide-eyed as Hidan calmly walked back up the stairs, and into his room. He slept peacefully that night.

**7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p**

"So we'll put this fortress here, and then this fortress there. You think we should add a river or what?"

Hidan lifted his head from his arms. He stared at their very unimpressive map of medhival times. He tapped the flat mountain Shikamaru had scribbled down and slowly dragged his finger down in a slightly wavy path. Shikamaru's pencil followed Hidan's finger.

"There. River," and Hidan put his head back down on his arms.

"I'll put footmen here."

"Mm-hm."

"And we'll give the enemy fortress a dragon."

"Great."

"I'll add another mountain here, a lake here... what else should I add?"

"Give the other fortress a couple of bilistas, seriously. They need to be able to fight that dragon."

Shikamaru sighed, "you're so troublesome."

Hidan said nothing and Shikamaru sighed again, "why do I feel like I'm doing all the work?"

Hidan's violet eyes gazed up at Shikamaru. He raised his head, then looked around. He stood.

And sat back down, leaving Shikamaru to stare gaping and wide-eyed down at the finished, fully illustrated, fully colored map. Hidan smirked and said, "you planned it out, sketched it, and I finished it. Deal?"

"Deal."

They stared at each other in silence, and then started laughing.

"But really, Shikamaru. You _did_ plan it. And sketch it. I just made it look pretty, seriously."

"Well, that is true."

"Now you can hand it in," Hidan said, getting up. Shikamaru bolted into a standing position, "wha?! You really _are_ troublesome."

Hidan smiled at him, "you have no freaking idea how troublesome I can be. Seriously," he began walking away, then he turned again and demanded, "do you know why the hell we have math first thing every morning?"

Shikamaru blinked at him, and shook his head. Hidan sighed and continued walking toward the car park, where the other Akatsuki were just arriving.

**7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p**

_'Math. Is. Annoying. I wish I was learning university math for goodness sake! Gah!'_ Hidan was furious with the simplicity of the morning's lesson so far. But then he hesitated and thought on it a bit more for a few minutes. It was simple, because the other students didn't have his brain. Either that, or Ibiki-sensei was playing a cruel joke on poor Konan, who looked like she didn't understand a single thing Ibiki was trying to explain. She just stared blankly at the board. Hidan shifted in his seat, '_maybe I should go help her.'_

He got up and walked up behind her when Ibiki sat back down to mark their tests from the previous day. Other students were moving around too, and Hidan looked to his right to see Sasori leaning against Ino's desk, flirting with the blonde. She flirted back, and tapped his nose. He grinned, and she tapped one of his fangs. He jerked back instantly making her laugh. Hidan turned his attention back to Konan.

He planted his hands on either side of her and she jumped, her head bumping lightly against his chest.

"So, first, why is your hair down and second, what's the problem? Seriously."

Konan craned her head back to look at him. She looked back down at her paper, then at the board, then back at Hidan and said, "my brain won't eat it."

"Your brain won't eat it? Like, it won't eat the information or what? And you didn't answer my first question."

Her eyebrows drew in, "I woke up late. Didn't want to bother pulling my hair back, so I left it down. Easier. Anyway, I just... I just don't get it. Like, why would this angle," she put her finger on it, "equal ninety degrees?"

"... Konan. Did you. Seriously. Just. Ask me that question?" Hidan demanded, lowering his head a little. He tapped the triangle, "this is a right angle triangle. This angle will always be ninety degrees, because a right angle is always ninety degrees. A straight angle is one hundred and eighty degrees. A circle is three hundred sixty degrees. And I know I'm good at math, but I can't remember what the two hundred and seventy degree angle is called. Does that make sense?"

She nodded, her cheeks turning red.

"So you don't get how to solve for the length of the sides?"

She shook her head, cheeks still red. So he explained it to her, and made her do a problem from the textbook. She got it mostly right, except for one minor detail. So he pointed it out, made her fix it, and made her do two more. She got them both right.

"See? It isn't that hard, seriously."

Suddenly Konan was staring him directly in the eye and she asked, "will you tutor me?"

**7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p**

(weeeeeeeeeeellllll... did you like? I like this chapter but right now... i'm really digging how chapter 5 is turning out. but I think I'm going to go to sleep now... after I finish chapter 4. maybe. and some of chapter 5. possibly. yeah though I see that Innocence is more anticipated for updates, sadly.)


	5. Chapter 4: First time for everything

So... LOOK I UPDATED VAMP!! GASP!! Innocence ch. 7 will be done by tomorrow. I promises. Uh, so in this chapter of VAMP I have heavily implied Kisame x Hidan. OH WOW. Yes I can imply things, cause I'm cool like that. Nothing really happens though, so don't get your hopes up. There will be some Deidara x Itachi in later chapters though, because of the way I've set up the Vampiric relationships. Refer to the previous chapter for info. on that. Also, Hidan and Kisame tease Konan a little in this chapter tee-hee! Poor, poor girl. I love Kisame. He's so... MWAH!!

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**Chapter 4: First time for everything**

Hidan blinked at her, "... what?"

"Will you tutor me?" she asked again, taking a deep breath. He straightened, and stared down at her big, pleading amber eyes. He looked at the teacher, and saw that the old man was fighting against a smile.

_'Ah. So it's his fault.'_

Hidan smirked at her, "okay. I'll do it," he leaned closer, eyebrow raised, "you were going to ask me yesterday weren't you?"

Konan released an exasperated "yes" before tugging on his shirt collar and asking him to explain the process again so she could be sure her "brain would eat it". Hidan mentally sighed, _'this is going to be a long day.'_

The day was long and boring, in Hidan's opinion. Konan came up to him at lunch to see if today would be alright for him to tutor her, which he said was fine.

"I could use the company," he'd told her, and she'd smiled, and he'd decided that he liked her smile. Currently, he was tapping a pen on Madara's mask, who was not impressed with him in the least. Kakuzu was holding onto the little man, so Madara couldn't jump on Hidan's face and cling stubbornly to his cheeks. Konan cowered behind Hidan's arm and stared at Madara, who regarded her - if he actually was, that is. Hidan looked over his shoulder at her.

"Konan. I don't see _why_ you're so frickin' scared of him. He's just a... a miniature person! Seriously!"

She pouted at him, "can we go now?"

He frowned, then looked up as Kisame appeared, "she wants to freaking go. Now."

Kisame arched an eyebrow, then nodded his head, "well run along then," and as Konan happily headed to the door Kisame leaned down to whisper in Hidan's ear, "either she really wants to learn or she wants to be alone with you."

Hidan fought against his blush as Kisame chuckled. The silver haired Vampire stood and strode out the door, almost bumping into Konan in his haste. He stared at her for a moment, then continued walking to the gate. She followed him, and after a moment asked, "how are we going to get to your place?"

Hidan looked around, then crouched. He looked over his shoulder at her, "get on."

She blinked at him then glanced at his back, "are - are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm seriously serious. Get on my back. I'm gonna' run."

Konan whimpered lightly and adjusted her bag, before climbing onto his back. He wrapped his arms around her legs and took off. She released a small shriek, and clung to him with all her might - Hidan was so _glad_ he didn't choke easily. It was a thirty minute run from the school to his home, and he hated the fact that he had chosen to take the long way home.

_'I'd rather not have to deal with Pein and them, though,'_ he shuddered at the thought of running into Pein with the man's ex on his back. That would not rest well with the fiery human. He turned sharply around a corner and Konan muffled a screech. He couldn't help but chuckle a little, and in retaliation she tightened her hold on his neck. He choked, and she loosened her hold, almost reluctantly.

Hidan was relieved to finally see his lovely home, and he set Konan down once they got to the door.

"Gimme a minute," he informed Konan before shifting through the door. He unlocked it and then pulled it open, gesturing for her to come inside. She stared, surprised by the outer look and the contrasting inner extravagance.

"Wow, uh... the outside totally doesn't do the inside justice."

"My room doesn't look this nice."

"Why not?"

"Didn't want to waste time on it. I mean, seriously, it's just a room it doesn't... need to look nice or anything," he replied, heading up the stairs. Konan followed him, still taking in the size of the home.

"This place is _huge_!" she exclaimed, stopping at the top of the stairs. Hidan chuckled and continued into his room, flipping the light switch downwards. His room was illuminated by the dull yellow light of the ceiling light, and Konan walked in a moment later. She froze, blinking at the sparsity in Hidan's room. He burst into laughter.

"You look surprised, Konan. I hope you weren't expecting much, seriously."

"Well, I was expecting more than this," she swept her arm around the room, starting at the bed and ending at the couch, "all this space and you've done _nothing_ with it."

"Hey, it gets pretty crowded when the guys decide they want to have an impromptu sleepover."

"Why not crash at Kisame's?" she asked, setting her bag down next to his desk and pulling out her textbook. Hidan took his bunny hug off and tossed it onto the bed.

"Kisame lives in a damn mansion. He doesn't let us crash there. Well, okay, that isn't true. He let's _me_ crash there," he explained to her, rubbing his neck. She didn't reply, and he opened his closed eyes to see that she was staring at his torso. He smirked and waved a hand, "yo, Konan. Pay attention."

She blushed furiously and glared at him, before burying her nose in the textbook. He stared at her for a moment before approaching the couch on the other side of the room, "you want me to put a shirt on?"

"If you don't want me to get distracted, you should," he heard her mumble quickly. He smirked; she probably thought he didn't understand her. He lifted the top of the couch to get to the storage compartments beneath and pulled out a navy t-shirt, tugging it over his head as he approached her. He hopped onto the desk, making her jump.

"Okay," he gabbed the textbook when she showed it to him and pointed, "let's have a look-see. Hm."

He lay down on the desk, propping himself up on one arm, his eyes jumping all over the two pages. He set the textbook down in front of him and turned it so Konan could follow along. He began explaining to Konan the differences between the isosceles, equilateral and right angle triangles.

After five minutes he noticed that she looked hopelessly lost. She glanced innocently up at him, "I'm... lost."

"Wait, let me guess. I lost you at equilateral."

"... yeah. Tell me again?"

He sighed and laughed at the same time before repeating, "equilateral triangles, have equal angles and sides. So this side, this side and this side all equal the same thing, seriously."

"So if this side was five inches," she said, tracing the bottom of the triangle diagram, "then these two sides also equal five inches?"

"Yep."

"And all the angles would equal sixty degrees if this angle equaled sixty degrees."

"Dead on. Now an isosceles triangle has two equal sides and two equal angles. The base of the triangle and the angle where the two side lines meet are different."

She stared at him for a moment before staring at the diagram, sketching with her finger on the desk. Her face lit up and she smiled at him.

"I _get_ it!"

"Great," he congratulated, shaking his head a little at her, "now as for _solving_ for an angle..."

As he explained the formulas she constantly asked him to repeat things. The only thought going through his head was, _'this is going to be a very, very, _very_ long night.'_

They didn't finish until eleven, which was about the time Kurenai arrived home. She was startled to find that Konan had been there since four.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Hidan gave her a look, "I'm tutoring her. In Math."

"Why?"

Before Konan could speak Hidan said, "because she fails it."

Konan punched him in the arm and he grinned at her. Kisame walked in after Kurenai and nodded at Konan, "I'll drive you home, kid. The streets aren't safe. Vampires running around, you know?"

Konan looked down at her feet, "yeah I know. Thanks."

"No problem," Kisame headed back out the door. Konan hurried after him and called to Hidan, "same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure."

As Kisame and Konan left Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her ward and crossed her arms. Hidan gave her an innocent look, "what?"

"Are you on the desk like that for a reason, young man?"

He blushed furiously at her implication and quickly explained, "it's easier than standing behind her, seriously!"

Kurenai merely laughed as Hidan jumped off the desk and spun her around, pushing her out of his room and slamming the door. This made her laugh harder and she heard him whine from inside.

"Oh, he is _just_ too cute..."

**--**

Two weeks had passed since Hidan had first agreed to tutor Konan, and every time he saw her with another man he had a compelling urge to wrap his arms around her and say "mine".

_'This is so friggin' ridiculous!'_ he growled to himself, fidgeting in his seat. Konan was merely talking to their _teacher_ Ibiki about some things, and Hidan felt the need to protect her, or something along those lines.

After school on a Friday, Hidan grabbed Kisame's sleeve as the blue Vampire was leaving the house to get Konan from her house - she had gone home early to do something for her mother.

"I _need_ to talk to you. So Konan needs to stay in the car for a few minutes, seriously."

Kisame blinked at him then realized what Hidan was saying, and understood immediately, nodding before heading toward the car and mumbling, "I knew this was going to happen eventually."

Hidan wondered what he'd meant by that, but shrugged it off and flopped onto one of the many bean bags in the living room. He turned on the T.V and stared blankly at the screen. The news was currently on, and Hidan flipped the channel, mumbling about how that particular news channel always tried to make Vampires look bad. He sighed when he found that the news was playing on all the channels except for the movie channel. Hidan, however, was not interested in the movie channel at all.

_'No harm in trying it, seriously.'_

So he flipped to the movie channel and leapt backwards off the bean bag in surprise. He landed behind it and crawled up to the bag, peeking fearfully over the edge. His eyes widened, and his ears were being filled with the sounds of gasping and moaning. He grabbed the remote and shut the T.V off, blinking continuously at the black screen, his face scarlet.

The front door opened and Hidan knew Kisame was surprised to find that Hidan was gripping the remote tightly in both hands, knuckles white.

"So..." Kisame appeared under Hidan's hands, making him jump, "what was on?"

"Uh... uh... uh... _nothing!_" Hidan exclaimed running off with the remote. Kisame stared after him, and watched as Hidan ran up the stairwell and draped himself over the edge of the railing in the hallway. Kisame's eyes narrowed.

"You'll most likely fall."

"I know, seriously," Hidan turned the T.V back on and hit three, then shut it back off again. Kisame gave him a confused yet irritated expression.

"What on _earth _are you _doing_?"

"I'm, uh, fixing the T.V."

"Right. Don't make me come up there and search your brain for the real answer."

"Wah!" and Hidan fell over the railing and landed unceremoniously on the couch. He had his eyes shut at the slight pain and suddenly he felt Kisame stroking his face. He cracked an eye open and released a squeak before scrambling into a different position, keeping his eyes shut tight. Kisame started laughing, "relax, Hidan."

"Oh, I am sure as hell not going to relax while you've got your mind reading eyes flaunting right in front of my face, seriously!"

"... that's the longest sentence you've said all day."

"... so?" Hidan mumbled, cracking open both eyes. Kisame arched an eyebrow at him, "come now, Hidan. Stop being so shy."

This made Hidan's face turn red again and he fully opened his eyes, turning his face away. Kisame grabbed his chin and jerked him into a standing position, which brought Hidan right up against Kisame's body. Hidan's hands were twitching at Kisame's wrist, his eyes shut tightly again. Kisame's breath flitted over Hidan's face.

"Well, tell me then."

"Haa, well, it was a – a movie, t-that, I-I dunno, it was e-erotic or s-something, ah."

"Hm... poor you. Doesn't help your current situation does it?"

Hidan shook his head. Kisame released his chin and Hidan stumbled back, collapsing onto the couch. Kisame sat down next to him, his face wearing a thoughtful expression. Hidan looked at him expectantly.

"Man, how can I explain this to you? You're getting attached to Konan. You start feeling like she belongs to you and only you. That's the way it is with Vampires. Take Itachi and Deidara for example. If a girl shows a keen interest in Deidara, and flirts with him, Itachi will get jealous and defensive, and therefore he'll hold Deidara's hand or play with his hair to say, 'he's mine. Don't touch him'," Kisame shrugged, "until you bite her, you'll act this way."

"... what? _What?!_ Until I _bite her?_ I'm not going to freaking _bite her_!"

Kisame scratched his head, "that's what I thought you were gonna' say," Kisame looked thoughtful again, "you remember how I would always act so strange when guys got so close to Kurenai?"

Hidan wrinkled his nose, "how could I possibly forget, seriously?"

Kisame chuckled, then continued, "basically the same thing is happening to you now. So unless you bite her..." Kisame shrugged, "I guess it's safe for me to say now that you're falling in love with her."

At this Hidan blushed furiously, "I – I am _not!_"

"Yes, you are."

"No I'm not!"

"... you know, I'm not even going to _try_ and argue with you."

"You are no fun, seriously."

Kisame chuckled again then stood and stretched, "well, I'll go get Konan, then."

Hidan blushed again and retreated up the stairs. Kisame laughed and strode out the front door.

A moment later he returned with Konan in tow. He kept on shooting her a curious look, and so Hidan imitated him and gave her a curious look too. She looked exasperated by this, "what is this, give Konan the curious look day?"

Hidan laughed, "no, actually, I'm just curious as to why Kisame's curious, that's all, seriously."

She stared blankly at him and then pushed past him into his room. Kisame leaned down slightly to whisper in Hidan's ear, "she wanted to ask the both of us a question."

Hidan shrugged and followed Kisame into the room, where they found Konan nibbling on her nail. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "so, I'm kind of uncomfortable asking this question but, it kind of sprouted from something that Itachi told me about your relationship so... um... well..." she took a deep breath then blurted out, "don't get mad at me for asking, but have you two ever kissed before?"

She bit down on her lip, amber eyes darting between the two. Hidan and Kisame blinked at her several times before they both burst out laughing. Her face turned scarlet, "what? What's to f-funny?" she demanded. Kisame managed to catch his breath first.

"Oh, oh that was funny. Oh gee... Ha! Why are you asking?"

"'Cause of Itachi..."

"You seen him and Deidara before, eh?"

Her face turned even more red than before, "I'll take that as a yes. Oh man. You know, no we haven't but..." Kisame glanced at Hidan, who glanced at him and then finished, "we always had this thought that our first kiss would be in front of a _girl, _seriously," and then he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Konan.

"Y-you say that like it's a natural thing."

"Well, that's exactly it, Konan. For Vampires, anyway, it _is_ natural but... nah. It wouldn't happen."

"Why?"

"'Cause I wouldn't let it."

Konan gave Kisame a skeptical look, but then she said, "but like, I've seen – or rather heard of – fathers and sons and friends giving pecks."

"Well, yes, that does happen. Sometimes it's culture, sometimes it's just impulse. Same thing with girls. And mothers and sons and daughters."

Konan smiled at him, then looked down at her Math work. She raised her head again though, probably not wanting to look at all the red marks, "would you ever, though? With Hidan I mean?"

Kisame and Hidan stared at each other before Kisame looked back at Konan, "I dunno. It depends."

"Hm."

"... you'd like us to, wouldn't you, Konan?" Hidan asked in a knowing voice. Her face turned red and just as she was about to retort Kisame pecked Hidan on the lips, making him jump and laugh at the same time. Konan just stared until Kisame pecked _her_ on the lips, which made Hidan laugh harder, and then Kurenai just so happened to walk through the door, so Kisame pecked her on the lips too.

"Well, I'm done. See you around," and he walked casually out of the room like nothing had even happened, the two women staring after him gaping and Hidan clutching at his stomach from laughing so hard.

-----

So I hope you found this somewhat funny :) I laughed while I wrote it, and know that I don't support Kisame x Hidan, though it is probably (if you forced me to support a yaoi pairing) the only yaoi pairing I would ever, well, support I guess. But... OKAY I'm going to end up confusing you and myself so I'll shut up now. xP Kind of a cute fluffly chapter, some real romance in chapter five. Oh, and be amazed! VAMP chapters are like, half the size of Innocence chapters ha ha!

My favorite line has got to be "Because she fails it." Go Hidan!


	6. Chapter 5: He bites you not

Fifth chapter of VAMP! Because I'm almost done chapter 9 of Innocence. I like, wrote Hinata's letter and went "FAIL" so I gave up on that. =/. WHY IS IT THAT WHEN I'M ALMOST DONE WITH SOMETHING I LOSE INSPIRATION?!!? ARGH!!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this installment of VAMP (for those of you who read LOL)

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**Chapter 5: He bites you not**

Kurenai and Konan had no idea what was so funny about Kisame kissing all three of them, but Hidan found it funny and he refused to explain why.

The next day Hidan found that he was repelled by the smell of everyone else's blood, the only blood interesting to him being Konan's. But he was so adamant about biting her, so against it because it would _prove_ that he was in love with her. He honestly didn't want to be in love with her.

"Why not?" Kisame demanded while music blared from the T.V. - _'Whatever you like'_ by T.I. - and Hidan sighed before saying, "I don't want to be in love with her because... because..."

"Because of Pein? You don't have any reason to be afraid of him."

"That's not why, Kisame, it's just... I don't know. Itachi always freaks out when Deidara's gone for longer than he says I just... I just don't want it to be like that. I don't want to be worrying and fretting over her every damn second because she can take care of herself."

"So sleep over at her place," Kisame suggested, "that's what I did with Sakura. She liked it. And she asks me to come stay with her sometimes, because she gets scared or she just wants the company. Or she's upset. Oh don't give me that face," he ordered when Hidan looked like he was going to start whining, "I totally support you falling in love with Konan. And that's that. If you don't bite her though... I don't even want to think about what might happen to you."

--

A week later found Konan prancing around Hidan's room, in no mood to do her work. She was just intent on getting him to bite her.

"Oh come on, Hidan, you _need_ blood. I can see it in your eyes," she stretched out her neck to him, watching in satisfaction as he clenched his jaw and averted his eyes.

"Do I really smell that good?" she asked, pushing away from his desk, forgetting about her math, focused only on his bright red eyes. She pressed her body against him and he inched away from her, and finally raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, narrowing his eyes at her. Before he could speak, however, Konan moved back to the desk and said, "you won't be able to teach me anything if you're gonna' be so close to my neck. Either you bite me or I sit here and wait for you to come back from a short hunt," she turned her amber eyes to him, "take your pick."

Hidan whined, "I can't bite you, Konan. Seriously."

"Why not?" she demanded, absentmindedly opening various drawers to his desk. While he attempted to explain to her the reasons he couldn't, she spotted a pack of blood cigarettes in one of the drawers. She smiled and withdrew it, and instantly Hidan's voice stopped. She turned to face him and leaned against the desk, opening the pack, staring at him. His eyes were wide and his arms were making some kind of gesture. Slowly he lowered his arms and took a step toward her, his voice full of warning as he said, "Konan..."

"This will only hurt me if I let any of it into my body right? And besides, Hidan, you're a healer. If anything really bad happens, you can heal me," she reminded him, pulling one out. His eyes narrowed dangerously and took another step closer, his voice now holding a hint of anger, "Konan..."

She put the cigarette against her lips, and he froze, his eyes on the red stick. She smiled a little, "it'll melt if I put it in my mouth, won't it? I mean, Kisame told me it would after I bugged him half to death about it..."

Hidan was in front of her suddenly, and having no other option she popped the cigarette in her mouth. It began to dissolve, and to her surprise instead of tasting blood - like she had expected - she tasted mint. Flavored blood. Very interesting.

Hidan's eyes were very wide as he stared down at her, trying to comprehend that she'd just shoved the cigarette in her mouth. She moved closer to him and in response he stepped back. She stepped forward again and he retreated until she had chased him to the bed, which he sat down on. Now he stared up at her, and the cigarette was filling her mouth with blood. So instead of talking Konan gripped Hidan's shoulders and pressed her mouth to his. He was utterly shocked, and when she opened her mouth he almost lost himself.

Blood trickled down his chin, and its intoxicating smell filled his nostrils. His mouth opened and the blood flowed in. He drank it almost feverishly, and he grabbed Konan's hips, pulling her down onto his lap. His left hand made its way to the back of her head, and he pressed her mouth hard against his, so hard that the contact was bruising. His tongue roamed the expanse of Konan's mouth and she moaned, one of her hands rubbing against his thigh. Even though she knew he was just getting all of the delicious blood out of her mouth, Konan couldn't help but love how aggressive he was being. She grabbed the hand that was on her hip and placed it on her thigh. His fingers twitched and he angled her head a little more, trying to gain better access. Konan moaned again and gasped a little as his hand slipped under her skirt. She pressed against him and he fell back, refusing to break away from her. She took quick breaths through her nose and when he finally relented she breathed deeply, even gasping a little.

Konan suddenly found herself under him, his eyes - now a mix of violet and red - glaring accusingly down at her. She wasn't about to let him speak though so she thrust a hand into his hair and brought his mouth back down to hers, this time pushing her tongue past his lips. He had a sweet minty taste, and she loved it. He stiffened - much to her dismay - and broke off from her, getting up quickly. He walked away from the bed to the desk, and Konan turned her head to look at him after making a frustrated sound. She blinked.

He had wrapped his hand around the pack of cigarettes, and in turn this had effectively crushed it. She bit her lip, scared now, _'I - I made him angry?'_

The silence hung heavy in the air for a long time, and Konan finally had enough of it. She got off the bed, trembling a little, and approached him cautiously. She reached out to touch his back, looked at the destroyed package, and thought better of it.

"Hidan -"

He whirled around and grabbed her chin roughly in his hand, jerking her head up a little.

"Never, _ever_ do that again," he growled in a low voice. Konan's lips trembled and she nodded her head, eying the line of blood down his chin. He jerked his hand away to the right and her head turned with it. To her, it seemed like he was slapping her without really hurting her. He turned his back to her and began to walk away, tossing the package into the garbage can as he passed by it. He stopped near the couch and spoke, "go home."

She stared at him in shock, clasping her hands together in front of her chest, "Hidan I -"

"Go _home_, Konan," he half-yelled glaring at her over his shoulder with a snarl on his face. She gasped a little and looked away, trembling, tears filling her eyes. She grabbed her books and dashed out of the room, refraining from sobbing until she was at the bottom of the stairs. The door opened and she flew by Kisame who released a shocked, "eh?!"

She didn't even think to stop, the only thought occupying her mind being, _'I made him angry.'_

"Konan?" she heard Kisame call after her. She could imagine his expression, how hopelessly confused or worried he must be. She felt hands on her shoulders and she came to a stop. She turned and buried her face in Kisame's chest, wailing, "I made him angry!"

Kisame's expression softened and he hugged her lightly before reaching into his pocket and taking out his car keys. He pushed them into the hand that wasn't holding anything, "here. Go wait in the car."

He made sure she was in the car before he proceeded into the house.

--

When Kisame entered Hidan's room, the first thing he noticed was the crushed packet of cigarettes in the garbage can, and the new one out on the desk, open. He furrowed his brows and looked to his right to see Hidan sitting on the bed, leaning against the window, a hand over his eyes. The cigarette was being held loosely between his fingers.

"What happened?" Kisame asked after a moment of silence. Hidan moved his hand slightly, revealing one gleaming eye. Kisame's eyebrows narrowed backwards, and Hidan covered his eyes again. Kisame approached him, then yanked his hand down and stared into Hidan's eyes.

He saw it all then, in reverse: Hidan yelling at her, them on the bed, the blood-filled kiss, the fear that she'd kill herself, the bitter anger. He jerked back a bit in surprise and Hidan took a drag on the cigarette, blowing smoke out of his nostrils. Kisame walked away, "I see. I'll take her home, then."

As he was walking out of the room he heard Hidan say, "she left her flower," and Kisame walked back over to the desk to retrieve it. Then he was in the car, putting the flower back in her hair.

"That was a pretty stupid thing you did, Konan," he commented, starting the vehicle. She sniffled and said nothing, looking out the window instead.

--

Once they arrived at Konan's house she bolted out of the car before Kisame could say anything. He sighed and turned off the engine, getting out to follow her. As he walked in he heard Anko cry, "Konan?!"

"It's no use. I'll tell you what happened," he interjected, causing Anko to stop mid-way up the stairs and swing around to stare down at him. He lit a cigarette and walked toward the confused mother.

"She... well, she freaked him out. She put a blood cigarette in her mouth, see, and well... he didn't take that too well. And she kissed him," he blew smoke out of his mouth, "twice. He wasn't too pleased, I'm tellin' ya," Kisame shook his head.

Anko appeared shocked, "w-what? She... she kissed him? Twice?"

"Once to get all the blood out of her mouth and second to make sure he wouldn't start talking. He got infuriated; opposite of what she wanted, I think. But," he held up a finger, a stern expression on his face, "don't lecture her about it, please. We're complicated beings, us Vampires. You can tell her though, that if she does swallow a whole blood cigarette, she'll die, no matter how good a healer Hidan is. There's some things even Vampires can't heal, and one of them is blood ingestion."

With that, Kisame turned and left, Anko running up the stairs to comfort her distraught daughter.

--

Hidan wasn't being very... kind. He was a lot stiffer around Konan now, more harsh and less patient when it came to tutoring. Konan recalled what Kisame had said to her about Hidan's odd behavior, _"you scared the living daylights out of him when you did that Konan. You may not have known it, but that was the closest to death you'll probably ever get."_

She realized, even as Hidan snarled at her about something he had repeated for the umpteenth time - she really didn't blame him for snarling - that she'd not only made him angry, but she'd also frightened him.

Now Konan sat next to the couch in his room, beyond irritated with how cold Hidan was being toward her. Not only that, but he hadn't bitten anybody and it had already been a month. His cigarettes were almost gone, and he wasn't going to get more. She contemplating a few things: he was distancing himself, trying to make her be cold toward him, trying and _failing_ to push her away. Konan really wanted to know why he wasn't biting anyone else, why he wouldn't bite her.

The almost empty packet of cigarettes was in front of her, and she held one up, _'if I put it in my mouth I'll just make him mad again. But he can't get too angry at me for just lighting it and setting it on the ground, can he?'_

She lit it and placed it on the floor without a second thought. As the smoke reached her nose she breathed it in and coughed lightly. Disgusted now, she scooted back a little, picking up her Math textbook and absentmindedly reading it. She heard quick foot steps and knew that Hidan had smelt the smoke.

"What are you _doing?_" he demanded and when she looked up at him he was glaring at her, his hand gripping the steel door tightly. She tossed her head a little and looked down at the textbook again. There was the sound of metal being crushed and she cringed when Hidan released a low growl, breaking off a part of the door. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw him stare furiously at the piece of metal before whipping it violently at the wall. She shivered and quickly looked back at the book when he started walking toward her.

"It's just smoke. It isn't gonna' kill me," she informed him, lifting the textbook higher so that she couldn't see him. He stepped on the cigarette and growled, "too much of it will, seriously."

She glared up at him, "oh? I was under the impression that you didn't care anymore," and her eyes returned to the book. Her hands had to keep her from falling onto her back when he tore the textbook out of her grasp and flung it all the way across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thunk and dropped onto the bed. He was glaring at her, challenging her with those ruby colored eyes. She glared right back and finally blurted out, "why won't you just bite me?!"

His eyes narrowed and he stood abruptly, walking some distance from her before her voice caused him to stop walking, "why won't you? You _need_ blood, Hidan," she grabbed the packet of cigarettes and threw one at him, "these are more effective if you don't have fangs! You still have yours!"

He stayed silent and she continued, "if you won't bite me why not anybody else, huh?! You have to feed. You have to bite me if you won't bite anybody else!"

She wondered why he wouldn't bite anybody else and a small voice in the back of her head said, _'devotion,'_ but she ignored it. She took all the cigarettes out of the packet and stomped toward him while throwing them at him. He turned around when the last one bounced off his back and she assaulted his chest with her fists. Her pulse was pounding in her neck from all her pent up anger, "stupid, stupid, _stupid_, Hidan! You need to bite me, damn it! You're killing yourself you stupid -!"

Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide, a gasp escaping her throat. There was a piercing pain at her neck, and she realized that Hidan was finally biting her. She couldn't believe how amazing it felt, to be bitten. She stumbled back, falling onto the couch with Hidan following her.

His body pinned her down, and she could feel blood rushing to her face. Her breaths were coming out in short gasps as her blood was sucked out of her neck. She pressed a hand to the back of his head, felt his throat vibrate when he growled, and whined a little when he shifted his weight.

_'If – if this is what it feels like t-to be b-bitten... Oh, gawds, I want him to bite me everyday...'_ from her lips escaped a soft, "ah..."

After five minutes he pulled away, licking her pierced neck to heal it. Perfectly bright and shimmering violet eyes pierced through hers until her lids slid closed as she fainted.

--

Hidan stared at her, watching her faint and immediately fled to the other side of the room. He pressed his forehead against the wall before releasing a shriek of anger. He'd never wanted to bite her because it honestly mean that yes, Kisame was right and that yes, Hidan was falling in love with her. It left him infuriated and angry and he screamed again, falling to the ground and slamming his fists against the floor, like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum.

_'That wasn't supposed to happen. That wasn't supposed to fucking _happen!_ Damn it! Why me...?... Why!?'_ he clenched his teeth and curled his fingers, raising his hands beside his head, "... GAH!"

He glanced over at her, _'if only she hadn't made her pulse quicken. If only it hadn't been pounded in her neck and my ears if only...'_ he licked his lips, _'if only she didn't taste so damn good.'_

He took a few moments to calm down before striding back over to Konan and plopping down on the couch. He stared at her, "when are you going to wake up?"

He leaned closer, lips touching her chin, "more importantly, how the hell are you going to react?"

As if answering him, her eyes cracked open and her amber eyes burned into his.

* * *

OOOOOOOOO TEH SEXAY KISS!!! lol, well, it wasn't actually really a kiss, BUT HEY!!! I'm cool like that =) Anyone who can guess what song I ripped the title of this chapter from gets... something. That isn't an internet cookie. Maybe a request of their choice no matter what it is. O_O


	7. Chapter 6: He bites you

Argh. Only up to chapter six with this... really gotta push myself with this story! Hopefully it will only be 18 chapters but you never know. Just as a warning, there _will be_ character death in this story, in about 2 chapters. yes. that's a heads up for you. Annnd.... **Please sit tight for chapter 10 of Innocence!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6: He bites you**

Hidan tensed, fearing the worst. And technically, his fear came true. Konan jumped on him, knocking him over, her arms flying around his chest.

"H-hey! Woah, K-Konan, ge-get off!"

He flailed his arms while she squeezed him mercilessly, obviously pleased with him for biting her.

"You _bit_ me," she purred in his ear, her breath making him shiver. He gripped her shoulders tightly, trying to push her off, "get off, seriously."

She nuzzled his ear instead. He was unnerved by this, _'why's she acting so damn weird? Why's she... Ki... Kisame!'_

"_... What?"_

"_Konan's acting weird!"_

"_Oh... so you bit her, eh? It's just a side effect. It should wear off soon."_

"_Better be soon, seriously. She – she's getting all touchy-feely on me!"_

Hidan listened as Kisame's boisterous laughter faded away in his mind. He struggled with Konan, trying to get her off in the least harmful way possible. He managed to detach her and attach himself to the ceiling, leaving her to stare lustily up at him. It made him... nervous, to see her with such a strange expression on her face. He swallowed lightly.

It was probably past eleven by now - he knew because Dial had just cranked the music up a lot more. The bass made Hidan's body pound and it seemed that the music had a positive effect on Konan. She started to blink rapidly, shaking her head and tilting it so that it was adjacent to the floor instead of looking up at him. He sighed in relief, and she heard him. Her head snapped back up.

"Wha-? Hidan, what are you _doing_ up there?"

"... you jumped on me," he muttered before dropping back down to the floor. She stared at him for a moment, then clapped her hand to her neck and blushed. Her eyes dropped to the floor, _'startled or...'_ he shuffled closer, dropping to his knees so he could look her in the eyes, _'... something else? There's no way I can be... I mean, I don't feel _anything_ right now, seriously...'_

Hidan was very confused. First, he thinks he's in love with her – Kisame _agrees_ – and now he feels nothing at all. He pursued this thought, but lost it when Konan looked back up at him, her nose barely touching his. He flinched a little, but didn't pull away.

_'What's it like, to be in love?' _he gazed into her eyes, desperately searching for some explanation, _'can you tell me, Konan?'_

She raised a hand to the back of his neck, and jerked her hand down, bringing his lips to the side of her neck. He stiffened, but her blood, it seemed, was calling out to him.

"Could you, bite me again?" a breathy request. He lipped her neck, unsure of himself. Lipping her neck again he felt her pulse beat against his lips, a steady contrast to the pumping bass from Dial. He placed his hands on the sides of her ribs, holding her there.

"Why?" he asked against her neck, denting the skin with his nose. She shivered, a hand sliding into his hair.

"I – I like how it feels. _Love_ how it feels. Do you know how it feels? Like we're -"

"Yeah, Konan, I know but..." he licked his lips, "it's stronger on my side, seriously."

His fangs pierced her neck and they shared no more words, only whispers.

--

Light filtered through Hidan's eyelids the next morning – a Saturday. He shifted to the left, and felt something solid at his side. His eyes widened.

_'Oh... oh no... uh... shit.'_

He felt around with his hands, and relaxed once he found that both of them were still fully dressed. He glanced at Konan, who was curled up against his side. He turned onto his side so that she was against his chest instead, his arm dropping over her waist. He closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

When he woke up again she was gone. He panicked for a minute, but calmed once the smell of her blood reached his nose. Curious, he followed the smell out of his room and down the hall.

_'Wow. It's interesting how my senses are like, tuned to her, seriously. Like a radio tuned to a certain station,'_ he smiled and released a short chuckle, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom. She was washing her hands; he could hear the water running inside.

The lock clicked and she walked out. His hand shot out to curl lightly around the left side of her neck. He pulled his hand back, drawing her toward himself and up so he could press his nose to her neck.

A gasp had escaped from her lips, and he breathed in her scent deeply. Her blood smelled like a mix of vanilla and sugar coated rhubarb, with a dash of peppermint.

_'Aw, damn, I love her smell...'_ he pressed his nose harder into her neck, breathing in deeply again.

"Hi-Hidan, w-what are you duh-doing?" she questioned, her voice quiet and timid sounding. He laughed breezily against her neck, stepping closer, "smelling you."

"W-why?"

"You smell good. Really good."

"What do I smell like?" she physically had to push him back. He smiled stupidly, "vanilla and sugar coated rhubarb, with a dash of peppermint."

She gave him a surprised look then smiled at him coyly, "I smell that good huh?" Konan took a shaky step toward him, reaching for his neck, "maybe you should bite me again."

He thought about that for a moment, _'I bet this is how Sakura acted when Kisame bit her the first time... I better say no, seriously. She looks weak. I drank too much already, damn it.'_

Hidan caught her wrists in his hands and she gave him a shocked look, "w-what?"

"Konan, no. You're weak from blood loss. I've had enough, honestly and... it's... well, it's kind of obvious that you like the feeling that comes with being bitten, seriously. You have no freaking idea how much self-control I had to exert to keep from, say, _eating_ you."

She blinked at him then blushed and looked down – _'She does that a lot.'_

_--_

The following Monday brought school, and Hidan hoped that Pein wouldn't try to get near Konan. Hidan was afraid that Pein getting near her would trigger his protective nature, and he really didn't want Pein to get involved.

Things don't always go the way they're supposed, however.

Hidan was just walking down the halls, chatting idly with Shikamaru. The kid had taken a liking to him, that much was obvious, and though Hidan wasn't willing to admit it, he had taken a liking to the kid too. They were more or less good friends now.

As they were nearing the locker banks where Konan's locker was, Hidan heard her yelp right before a banging sound was heard. He and Shikamaru exchanged a look then moved more quickly, winding through the crowd. It appeared that Pein had slammed Konan's locker door shut, and was currently glaring at her. She held a book tightly to her chest in fear and stammered, "w-what do want?"

"Where were you?"

"Where was I when?"

"On Saturday and Sunday. Where were you?"

She looked like she was deliberating and Hidan's temper flared. He was quickly behind her, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her against his chest.

"What's it to you, seriously?" he asked, violet eyes piercing. Pein glared back, also challenging.

"Oh. So she was with you, then?"

"Got a problem with it, carrot-head?"

The name made Pein's eyes narrow – he had never liked being mocked. As soon as he took a step forward Hidan bared his fangs, a hiss escaping out of his open mouth. Konan was pulled more tightly against his chest now, his protective instinct in complete control.

It was the first time that any of the students gathered had seen Pein look so frightened. His ringed eyes actually widened, his eyebrows flying up before he took several steps back. He turned and walked swiftly away, in a defeated looking gait.

_'... that... was... _weird. _That's the weirdest thing I've done... all freaking week...'_ Hidan shook his head and pulled his arm away from Konan, placing it on the back of his neck instead. He gave her a sheepish look, too aware of the stares they were getting from others – human and Vampire.

"Sorry about that..."

"Sorry? You're _sorry?_ Gee, you're funny, Hidan," Konan's expression clouded, "I didn't really appreciate him getting in my face and demanding to know where I was. It's not like I'm his girlfriend, anyway. I wish he would just leave me alone! And I wish you would've punched him. Oh yes. I did just say that," she informed Hidan, staring up at him with longing in her eyes.

_'Yeah, well, you aren't my girlfriend, either, seriously,'_ out loud Hidan said, "yeah, I probably should have punched him."

He smiled down at her and she smiled up at him before skipping off down the hall – after locking her locker door, of course.

--

"You're scared."

"For tonight, no duh, Kisame. I mean, seriously, she's just gonna' want me to bite her the entire time."

Kisame shrugged, tapping out a cigarette and then lighting it, "maybe you should offer it as a reward. If she finishes all the work you throw on her lap you'll bite her. 'Sides, it's better if you get as used to her scent as possible. One reason being you'll be less aggressive toward other men, human and Vampire."

Hidan sighed and plopped down on the couch, turning the T.V on, "what was it like with Sakura? And I don't know _what _I'm gonna' do, 'cause she went home to change. What if she comes back here and she's wearing some sexy flapper dress? What am I gonna' do, seriously?"

Kisame blinked at him before blowing smoke into the younger Vampire's face, "you're thinking too much into it, Hidan. Relax. I'm gonna' go get her now so... just relax, 'kay? I'll be at Sakura's so gimme a call if you need something."

Hidan merely nodded and Kisame turned on his heel.

Ten minutes later and Hidan heard the sound of a car drive up. Doors opened and closed, a drop of sweat trickling down Hidan's forehead. The front door opened...

And a wave of relief washed over Hidan when he saw that Konan was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white tank tutoring session lasted with little conflict, though by the end Hidan could tell Konan was just dying for him to bite her.

_'Ugh... why does she have to like how it feels so damn much?'_

He was walking her to the door and when she spun around and stared up at him expectantly he sighed and leaned in the doorway.

"Listen, Konan. I'm not thirsty, or whatever, and I can't always drink your blood, seriously. If I get hooked, it's bad for me and if you get hooked it's worse."

She frowned, "so you're saying you'll only bite me when your hungry or thirsty or whatever."

"Yeah. Really, we don't freakin' need you to die from blood loss," he gave her a cheeky grin and she rolled her eyes before slapping his chest. His head snapped down to look at his chest before he snapped it back up to look at her.

"Hey! That's gonna' leave a mark."

"No it's not you crybaby."

"Crybaby? Har har. Look who's talking," and he instantly regretted saying so, "I mean... I well..." he pushed back from the doorway, "I didn't mean it like that."

Her upset expression lightened, "okay."

He squinted at her, expression grim, "really."

"I know, Hidan. It's okay," she patted his chest as Kisame rolled up. A blonde character hopped out of the passenger seat and stormed past Hidan.

_'Deidara?!' _Hidan exclaimed inwardly as his head swiveled after the blonde just in time to see him stomp into his room, _'why the heck is he in my room? What the hell happened?'_

Kisame was standing next to Konan when Hidan turned his head back. He had a very dark expression on his face.

"Konan, go wait in the car."

She stared up at him, amber eyes wide with fear, "w-what happened? He looked really upset!"

"Itachi got shot. He's in the hospital and Shikaku's probably had an artery burst."

"_What?!_" she shrieked, staring at him, "I thought there was an understanding!"

"Listen, Konan, I'll tell you on the to your place. I need to talk to Hidan," Kisame glanced at her sharply and she obeyed. Hidan hurried over to the stairs, followed by Kisame and asked, "what happened, seriously?"

"This is the worst news we'll ever get. It turns out that the Slayers that were sent out about a year before the understanding came into play just got back. They have no idea about this, and even though Shikaku _told_ them specifically to come back to the station whether they did or did not see Vampires they didn't really listen."

Kisame's eyes narrowed dangerously, Hidan shaking just from feeling how angry the older Vampire was.

"Fugaku, being the wise ass he is, shot Itachi. Raptor's group came right away and they're damn lucky Sasori managed to keep Deidara from blowing Fugaku up," he leaned toward Hidan, "do me a favor and stay with Deidara until I get back."

"Sure thing," Hidan called as Kisame walked out the front door. He took the stairs two at a time and as soon as he set one foot in his room Deidara latched onto him, sobs wracking his body. Hidan rubbed his friend's back, "aw, hey, Dei, it's gonna' be okay, seriously. Itachi's pulled through worse ya know."

"I kn-know b-but still it w-was wuh-one of those buh-bullets," the blonde sobbed against Hidan's chest. Hidan frowned and tugged Deidara over to the bed.

"Here, you go to sleep, yeah? I'll just go down and -!!" Hidan was stopped by Deidara grabbing onto the sleeve of his bunny hug. He stared at the blonde, shocked, until pain-filled blue eyes pleaded with him.

"D-don't leave m-me..."

Hidan kicked off his shoes and crawled over Deidara, lying down next to him. Deidara turned and curled up against Hidan's chest, one arm coming up to clench the fabric of Hidan's bunny hug.

--

When Hidan woke up, he wasn't the only one in his bed.

Kisame's head was resting in front of him, Sasori curled up at the end of the bed. Kakuzu was way over on the couch, with Madara on his head. Tobi was asleep next to Sasori, and partially draped over the end of the bed. Zetsu was on the floor near Sasori.

When Hidan turned over onto his left side he saw that Itachi was recovered and had pulled Deidara onto his chest. A line of tears was still running down the blonde's face and Hidan smiled sleepily at the scene, before glancing outside and deciding that it was probably about four in the morning. He yawned and went back to sleep.

--

Konan tapped her pen impatiently against her desk. It had been ten minutes since class had started and there was still no sign of the Akatsuki anywhere. No black bunny hugs with red clouds.

Suddenly the door to their Math class opened and Kisame strode in. He and Ibiki exchanged a few words and then Kisame left. Shortly after he was gone Hidan and Sasori walked in. Neither of them spoke as they walked to their seats, but Hidan did drag his hand over her shoulder. He would tell her what was up later.

They didn't really have time to talk during their classes but when it was finally time for lunch she sought him out, finding him standing next to the gate and staring off into the distance.

"Hey," she said when she came to a hopping stop next to him. A small smile graced his lips when he turned his head to look at her. Her heart skipped a beat, "hey, girl."

_'Did he just call me girl?'_ she wondered, but shook it off, "you looked like you wanted to talk earlier. What's up?"

"Nothing, really. Kisame's throwing a Christmas party, though. Said on the news that the temperature was gonna' drop like crazy tomorrow, and damn, if you look at those huge clouds coming over, I'm pretty sure they're right."

Konan pulled her jacket tighter around her body when a gust of wind came up, watching as Hidan lifted a hand to keep the hood of his bunny hug in place on his head.

Konan tilted her head at him, _'but Christmas is still a month away!'_

"Uh, when is it?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her, "two days before Christmas Eve. Yeah, I know, asking early, but you never know. I want you to go with me, seriously."

Konan blushed and looked down while chiding herself, _'get a grip! He's not asking you out. He's asking you to accompany him!'_

She couldn't help feeling a little let down, however, as she replied with a cute, "of course I'll go with you."

Konan hoped that the expression on his face meant he was catching on.

* * *

well i hope you liked that. And, oh my, what's Konan hope Hidan is catching onto?!?! XD


	8. Chapter 7: Difficulties

So, to clear something up, in chapter 4 when Hidan bites Konan for the first time, the um, scene before that (in which Konan nearly kills herself by shoving the blood cigarette in her mouth) it doesn't count at their first kiss. No it doesn't xD. Because there was actually no emotion in that kiss lol. So I hope you enjoy this chapter =) I know I did (Wall-E is REALLY GOOD btw. You peoples should watch it!) Also, uh, I never saw AVP or the tailer, but I heard that (was it the second trailer?) one of the trailers was rated R. Yeah, that bad. xD

* * *

**Chapter 7: Difficulties? Definitely.**

Hidan was a bit shocked; she had just whole heartedly agreed to go with him to the party. The look in her eyes, though, he could see that she was disappointed with something, _'disappointed with what?'_

And when she had replied so cutely, "of course I'll go with you," he couldn't help but wonder if she wanted more. Wanted more than just a friendship with him.

The bell rang, and Konan glared at the school. An announcement came on shortly after that, "sorry for the interruption, but the bell system isn't working properly right now. Be sure to be in your classrooms by one twenty-five."

Konan tilted her head and Hidan took a step toward her. Her amber eyes widened when he wrapped an arm around her waist instead of around her shoulders like he usually did.

"Let's go get some lunch, seriously," he said, pinching her side. She squeaked and tried to punch him, her face bright red. He pulled his arm away from her waist and quickly dashed away, grinning madly. Konan charged after him, and finally managed to wrap her arms around his chest from behind.

"Hey!" he scowled, glaring at her over his shoulder before he said, "no groping."

Konan jumped back immediately, gaping at him, face reddening again. He grinned at her and continued walking, heading for the cafeteria. She fell in step next to him.

_'She's just so damn cute sometimes... seriously.'_

--

Kisame watched the exchange from the first floor, lips twisting up at one side. He knew she would say yes to him, because it was obvious to Kisame that she liked him.

"She makes it the most obvious thing in the world," he mumbled, leaning against the cement balcony.

"Well, she isn't exactly trying to hide it. Either Hidan's caught on or he's really dense," the comment was followed by a loud screech, "dang it, Madara, can't you just _shut up?_"

Kisame chuckled, turning glittering eyes to Kakuzu, "are you sure you don't want me to get rid of him for you?"

"Yes. And no. Because Tobi would be really upset if I... 'accidentally' left Madara somewhere," Kakuzu sighed, coming to stand beside Kisame, "don't get me wrong, I like the kid but... he's just a little too clingy for my tastes. Really acts like I'm his dad."

"Technically you are," Kisame reminded him, watching the humans and Vampires chase each other around, pretending to be Slayers and well... Vampires. Kakuzu furrowed his eyes at them, "what in the world are they doing?"

"Slayers and Vampires."

"Eh?"

"... Cops and Robbers."

Kakuzu looked away, slapping a hand to his forehead for his stupidity. Kisame laughed and was about to speak when his cell started ringing. Both Vampires stared at Kisame's pocket while Madara just shrieked along to the ring until Kisame answered it and Kakuzu wrapped a hand around the mini person's head.

"Yeah?"

"_Kisame? This is Sakura's mother. She claimed she was feeling sick at school today, so she came home, but I think she just really wants to talk to you. You know how she is."_

Kisame laughed, "yeah, I know how she is. Sure I'll come over if that's what you want."

"_Well yes, if you have time. I don't know what time school ends at Saint Mary's, but I'd like it if you could come talk to her,"_ there was a pause, _"she looked really upset."_

Kisame's brows furrowed, "I'll be right there."

"_See you soon."_

He waited until she hung up first and then hung up himself.

"I'm off. Sakura's unsettled about something," Kakuzu nodded and Kisame misted away. Seconds later he appeared in front of the Haruno home.

He approached the door and knocked; Sakura's mother pulled the door open and stared at him in slight shock, "Oh! That was quick."

Kisame raised an eyebrow at her, "I _am_ a Vampire, Mrs. Haruno. Or did you already forget that?"

Mrs. Haruno laughed, "no, dear boy! But I did forget that you can – what was it? Oh! - I forgot that you can transport yourself rather quickly to where you want to be."

"Ah. Where's Sakura?"

"She's in her room. I presume you know where that is?" Mrs. Haruno asked, a hint of motherly protectiveness in her tone. Kisame nodded, unabashed as he made his way up the stairs. He misted away just so that Mrs. Haruno would remember better that he could go through things, and then he was in Sakura's room.

She was in her bed, all snuggled up in the huge comforter. Kisame stared at her for a moment before she lifted her pink head. She hadn't been cutting her hair lately, and it fell loosely against her shoulders. She smiled at him, and then shivered, "Kisame!"

"Hey, babe. What's wrong? Your mom said you were upset."

"She – she _called _you?!" Sakura exclaimed, beckoning for him to come over. Her crossed his arms, "yeah, she called me. Why do you want me to come over there?"

Sakura released an exasperated sigh, "urgh! Why do you always have to ask? I'm cold! You're hot! Come keep me warm."

"Your _cold_ with that huge blanket? Wow. You must be really sensitive to temperature," he commented, walking over and crawling in next to her. She snuggled up against his chest, and breathed in deeply.

"You smell. Like raspberries," she informed him through breaths. He chuckled and stroked her head lovingly, "well, Sakura, that's what the cigarettes I smoke smell like, so I'm not surprised."

She sighed in content and then said, "I heard... I heard Fugaku and his men came back. And that Itachi got shot."

Kisame frowned – _'this is what she's worried about?'_ - "yeah, Fugaku and his men are back. And yes Itachi got shot. It wasn't anything serious though; he's already up and walking around, but I didn't let him or Deidara go to school today. You know how Deidara can be about Itachi."

"I know, I know. By the way, did Hidan ask Konan to the party?"

"Yes, he did. And she said yes, as I speculated."

"She really likes him doesn't she?" Sakura whispered after a minute of silence.

"She does."

"Does he like her back?"

"I think he's a bit confused. It happens a lot with half breeds – they tend to get their human emotions confused with their Vampiric ones," he stroked her head a few more times, "go to sleep, Pinky."

"You'll stay right?" she yawned cutely, "I'll freeze to death if you leave."

"I'll stay. I'll be right here when you wake up. Hidan can either run home or catch a ride with Kakuzu."

"Just let him know you're... with me..." she instructed before falling asleep. Kisame smiled, and closed his eyes, connecting telepathically to Hidan.

--

Hidan was jolted out of his sleep by a pricking at his mind and inwardly he mumbled, _"What do you want, Kisame?"_

"_I'm with Sakura. So I won't be driving you home."_

"_Oh. Oh, okay. I'll uh, catch a ride with Kakuzu or something. Itachi and Dei are still in my room right?"_

"_Yeah they are. So... maybe you should skip tutoring with Konan and watch a movie with her or something."_

"_What?"_ Hidan straightened abruptly, "most islands are formed by underwater volcanoes," he quickly responded to his Geography teacher's question. The nun nodded, and asked Sasori a question next.

"_I'm serious Hidan. Watch a movie with her."_

"_I don't _have_ any good movies."_

"_Sure you do! Ask Deidara if he'll leave Itachi's side for a minute and get one for you. He has tons of good ones."_

"_Ah-alright I'll uh, I'll ask," _Hidan felt a trickle of sweat run down his forehead. Kisame was plotting something, and Hidan really wanted to know what.

The conversation ended right then, because the bell rang and Kisame was probably occupied. The nun said something about reading pages 180-195 in the textbook, but that didn't matter to Hidan because he'd already read the whole book.

_'I might as well review it though.'_

His last class of the day was with Konan, and so instead of sitting where he normally sat next to Sasori he took a seat next to Konan, switching places with Ino.

"Hey," he greeted when she sat. She was staring at him in surprise, "h-hey."

"So... today I was thinking we can skip tutoring all together and watch a movie, seriously," he said, completely ignoring their teacher. She kept on glancing between the teacher and Hidan, trying to figure everything out. Hidan, meanwhile, mindlessly scribbled all over his notebook, and somehow everything turned out to be notes for the class. He smirked at her when she scowled and muttered, "I hate psychology."

"I love it."

"But... why watch a movie? I mean, we have a test coming up -"

"In three weeks."

"- and it's not like -"

"Deidara and Itachi have taken over my room. So, we pretty much can't be in there, seriously. I'll shoo Dei out to get a damn movie because he has a ton of good ones. Besides, I wanna' take a look at Itachi myself; see how much damage that bullet did."

"Oh... well, okay then, we-we'll watch a movie."

For the rest of the class she kept her head down, glancing up only when the teacher scribbled new notes on the board.

--

"Me? Go get a movie? Now?"

"Yes. Please? You act like Itachi will die without you, seriously."

"I'll only die without him if he's dead," Itachi said, then looked down at Deidara, "go on; I'll be fine. Hidan is a healer, after all."

Deidara pouted, but took off. Konan stared after him, before making a beeline for the couch. Hidan watched as she flopped down on it, and he laughed lightly. He put a hand on Itachi's right shoulder, "so the bullet went through here?"

"Yes."

"What did it feel like?" Hidan asked, poking and patting at Itachi's shoulder with his hands.

"It stung. A lot. Like, a burst of immense pain that caused me to faint."

Hidan straightened abruptly, "s-seriously?"

"Yes," Itachi confirmed, turning and heading up the stairs. The door to the house opened again, five movies were shoved in Hidan's hands and Deidara bolted up the stairs, dragging Itachi into Hidan's room and closing the door. The front door slammed shut.

"... _wow_. He's... that worried?"

"Yep," Hidan replied, walking over to Konan and sitting down in front of her legs, looking at the movies. He smiled as he came across Kung Fu Panda. Konan shifted behind him, and he felt her breath on his shoulder as he looked over the movies. He tossed Epic Movie onto a bean bag, "seen it; sucks and it's terribly done, seriously."

Flubber was another one of the choices, but after showing it to Konan he tossed it over to rest with Epic Movie; she'd shaken her head. The last three were Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, and AVP.

"We're not watching AVP," Konan said hurriedly. Hidan gave her a look, "why not?"

_'She isn't scared is she?'_

"I saw the trailer, and it's _worse_ than a horror movie. And it isn't even classified as a horror movie."

Hidan's mouth made a small "o" and he tossed it over, _'and that leaves the two animations... I haven't seen Wall-E yet...'_

"I've seen this. It's really good; don't mind watching it again. But I haven't seen Wall-E."

"I haven't seen either," she grabbed the case for Wall-E and read the back before smiling, "let's watch this one."

Hidan took it from her and dropped Kung Fu Panda on the pile as he passed by the bean bag. He had the movie up and running in less than two minutes, and instead of returning to the couch he flopped down on a bean bag. The opening credits had finished to reveal a garbage polluted earth, with one tiny robot driving around picking up trash and turning it into squares, adding to the piles and piles of squares all around it.

Hidan jumped when Konan's body rested against his own, _'HO SHIT when did she -?!'_

He couldn't keep his face from turning slightly red at the contact. Konan giggled when the robot accidentally ran over his little pet, the indestructible cockroach. Hidan smiled and got up. She gave him a curious look, "what are you doing?"

"Turning the lights off," he informed her, right before hitting the switch.

"Oh..." was her reply as the room was plunged into darkness, save for the areas that were lit by the T.V screen. Hidan made his way back over, stepping carefully over her legs before settling next to her again. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, one of her hands rising to lie on his chest.

A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, _'what is she doing? What the hell is she doing?'_ he tried to figure out what was going on in her head, and wished at that moment that he had Kisame's ability to read minds.

The chase was on in the movie, making Hidan and Konan laugh. All the defective robots were fighting against the police ones, and when Eva – Wall-E's girlfriend – cut loose the psychotic massage bot, Konan and Hidan could do nothing but laugh. It totally destroyed all the police robots.

By the time the end of the movie was drawing near – one part had made Konan cry, where Wall-E was all but crushed by the earth detector machine – Hidan had a very strange feeling come over him. The air around him was suddenly thick and made his heart beat faster.

Everyone on the Axiom was off, planting small trees in the ground to try and return earth to its former glory.

Konan's hand flexed against his chest, and he turned his head to look at her. He froze, and she froze, her nose barely touching his cheekbone. Sound became a dull hum in Hidan's ears as he processed that Konan's lips were barely a millimeter away from his.

* * *

Hope you like the little cliff-hanger i've left for you to enjoy ^^. MLMD chapter 2 will be up today or later tomorrow, since I need to figure out a few more details before I finish it. I'll give you a little snippet from chapter 2, because while Hidan enjoys paradise, Shikamaru is stuck with... well... _illusions that aren't nice._ Here's the preview:

**Chapter 2: To Heaven.**

"It - it can't be that bad.... can it?" Shikamaru whispered to himself, staring out the window. A grin was suddenly visible in the glass, and when Shikamaru whipped his head around there was nothing behind him.

As he looked back at the window, he saw a girl with blood on her hands, a terrified expression on her face, sliding down the window.


	9. Chapter 8: Winter Wonderland

Oh, teh fluff and romance in this chapter! Meh, I like it. It's teh cute. And I'll leave it up to your imagination why Deidara wasn't wearing pants when he tumbles down the stairs (and lol, it probably won't be what you may think. He and Itachi didn't... you know... YEAH.) Enjoy! ANNNNNNNNND...

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM HONG KONG!!!!!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Winter Wonderland.**

Hidan had no idea what was really happening, but he decided that Deidara couldn't have chosen a better moment to burst out of the room, tumble down the stairs and demand, "why the heck are the lights off, yeah?! I'm gonna' kill myself over here!"

Konan scrambled away from Hidan, her face bright red. Hidan got up as calmly as he could, walking stiffly over to the light switch and turning the light on. After spotting Deidara he immediately switched it off.

"There is no way in hell I'm turning the freaking light back on until you _put some pants on!_"

"WHAT?!" Konan yelped, shuffling around on the couch. Deidara released a nervous sounding laugh before bounding back up the stairs, bumping into the wall and finally making it into Hidan's room. Hidan flipped the light back on.

His violet orbs met with Konan's amber ones and they just stared at each other. Hidan then silently cursed Deidara for his perfect timing – it had ruined the moment.

"So uh, that was a good movie. Seriously," Hidan started. Konan nodded, "y-yeah. I thought that Eva and Wall-E were just so cute! They make a uh, a great couple."

Hidan smiled crookedly at her, "y-yeah... they do. Make a great couple. Heh."

She walked toward him cautiously and stopped in front of him. She was hesitating – _'why? Damn it, she's kind of scaring me. What's that look in her eye? Crap, I wish I could freaking read minds...' -_ and suddenly she put a hand on his shoulder. His heart started pounding in his chest again, his whole body anticipating something that his mind wasn't contemplating.

He rested a hand on her waist, head spinning, as her arms slid around his neck. He tilted his head, leaning forward then pulling back, unsure. She pushed up against him, before pulling back a little herself. They leaned toward each other at the same time, and Hidan went further, his lips just barley touching hers.

It was that moment that her heart when spastic, and Hidan was drawn to her neck, his vampiric instincts taking over. His teeth grazed her neck where her pulse was and she released a shaky breath. His hand slid around to her back, his free hand cradling the side of her head. She pressed it into his hand, and his tongue slid out of his mouth and slowly over her neck, stopping just behind her ear. She gasped, arms tightening around his neck and shoulders.

--

Itachi stared, wide-eyed and mouth agape, at the two downstairs. He stood on the platform that made up the second floor, attached to the staircase – it was an open hallway floor, there really wasn't a second floor, _'unless of course, you... count... the... rooms! Holy shat! Is he – he's _teasing_ her?! HE'S TEASING HER?! No wait...' _Itachi inspected the scene more closely, and realized instantly the problem.

As a half-breed, the line between vampiric feelings and human feelings was very thin. Itachi's eyes showed him that the two halves were conflicting, the vampiric side wanting only blood, the human side wanting more. He squinted, _'Hidan's Vampire half is winning right now, but he's licking her neck, and holding her like that...' _his eyes flicked to Konan, _'she's probably thinking something else right now, or not thinking at all. This isn't good. They'll both get confused.'_

Itachi's jaw dropped again though when Hidan's hand slid under the back of her shirt, making Konan arch into him. One of her hands pushed the open bunny hug off his shoulder before her fingernails scoured over his skin. Itachi swallowed lightly, a blush coming to his cheeks.

He shouldn't be watching. What if they noticed him? Hidan was going to _kill_ him later – and that would hurt more than a bullet.

Itachi noticed too late that Deidara had walked out of the room – pants on – and came to stand beside him. As the sight of Hidan nipping and licking Konan's neck came to his view he wrapped his hands around the banister, leaned forward and shrieked – as Itachi brought his arms up and opened his mouth, turning to Deidara - "HOLY SHIT!"

Hidan's head shot up instantly, and Konan's head whipped around to look up and over her shoulder to see Itachi in a pose that suggested he was about to attack Deidara, and Deidara staring shocked at them. Itachi had never seen Hidan move so fast in his life.

--

"HOLY SHIT!"

Hidan's heart nearly stopped when he jerked his head up. Half of him was angry – he wanted her blood, and he wanted it _now – _while his other half was shouting 'oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap! CRAP!'

He bolted away from Konan, slamming violently against the wall. Breath went in and out his nose rapidly and he watched as Konan turned red from the neck up. Itachi's red eyes went to Deidara and Deidara looked at him, still with a shocked expression on his face.

Itachi attacked Deidara while screeching, "OH MY GOSH DEIDARA YOU IDIOT YOU FREAKING RUINED IT WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT?!"

_'I have seriously never heard Itachi say a freaking run-on sentence before. Seriously.'_

"WELL IT WASN'T LIKE YOU WERE ANY BETTER, YEAH! YOU WERE JUST STANDING THERE _WATCHING THEM! _YOU_ EAVESDROPPER!"_

The two continued to grapple and bicker upstairs, bumping into walls. Hidan and Konan made eye-contact and immediately looked away, Hidan's face reddening. The front door opened and Hidan almost whimpered, _'oh gee. Kisame... you and your frikkin' timing.'_

--

Kisame entered the room, heard Deidara and Itachi freaking out at each other in the open hallway, then glanced around the ground floor. He blinked.

Konan stood near the bean bags, looking one direction, while Hidan was flattened against the wall, looking the other way. Kisame saw the back of his silver head.

_'Oh. Action. Just as I thought. Heh. Hidan's gonna' find out that I planned this whole thing and _then_ I'll be screwed. Totally screwed,'_ Kisame leaned against the door, a knowing smirk on his lips, _'in the mean time, I think I'll enjoy this.'_

"So... how was the movie?"

"It – it was _great_! Uh, if you don't mind, I'm gonna' wait in the car," Konan responded quickly, hopping over to the couch and scooping up her bag and books. She hurried toward Kisame who was holding out his keys.

"Bye, Hidan!" she called before whizzing out the door and clamoring into the car. Kisame swallowed lightly, "well? How was it, boy?"

He said that while thinking, _'and I know you know I'm not talking about the movie.'_

Hidan's red face turned to him and the infuriated teen jabbed a finger at him, "when you get back here, Kisame, you are so frikkin' _dead_. You _better_ come prepared, _dad," _he snarled before storming up the stairs. Deidara squealed and Itachi jolted about a foot in the air when Hidan bellowed, "AND YOU TWO! You two are so totally freaking _screwed, _seriously!"

Kisame nodded his head and took a deep breath before closing the door and walking over to the car. Konan sat stiffly in the passenger seat and he took his place next to her in the driver's seat. She surrendered the keys and he started the car.

Half way to her house she accused, "you planned that didn't you?"

Kisame could only laugh as she scurried out of the car and into her house, Anko meeting her at the door.

Kisame headed back to Hidan's place, slightly on guard, _'wonder what he's gonna' do to me,'_ he thought for a moment about Konan and Anko's relationship, _'those two have a good relationship. Great mother and daughter bonding times, making Konan study for History tests,' _Kisame chuckled to himself as he pulled up to the house.

When he entered it was quiet, signaling that Deidara and Itachi were gone. He cautiously walked up the stairs and nodded at Kurenai when she poked her head out of her door. She nodded back to him, stared at him a moment longer and then she retreated back into her room.

_'Must have just had a shower. Anyway...'_ he stared at the ominous door that led to Hidan's room, _'back to business,'_ he pushed the door open.

And nothing happened. Hidan wasn't in the room. Kisame whipped around, scoured the area, then turned back around and walked into the room.

"Hidan...?" he called cautiously, stalking around. He looked around, _'this is ridiculous,'_ and just as he was about to give up and leave he heard a zipping sound and looked down, _'what the -!!'_

He was spun, knocked down onto his stomach and then a knee pressed between his shoulder blades. Warm breath was on his neck and he turned his head a bit, staring at Hidan in shock as the teen grabbed one of his arms and pulled it around to his back, holding it in place.

"Thought you might use your mind reading to find me, seriously," Hidan hissed, tugging at Kisame's bunny hug, pulling it away from his shoulder. Kisame just stared at him, "now this, I wasn't expecting. Where'd you learn it? And what the heck are you _doing?_"

"Learned that one from Zetsu – he said he uses it on Sasori a lot. You'll see."

Kisame felt rather then saw what Hidan was doing, _'guess he got a little more upset than I thought.. OW!'_

"Gee, kid! That _hurts_!"

"It's meant to, old man," Hidan laughed, fangs raking over the bottom of Kisame's neck and part of his shoulder. Kisame struggled and after wrestling a bit with Hidan he managed to pin the teen down, shoulder bleeding. He glared, "you little monster."

"Correction: I am a _big_ monster, considering I am almost as tall as you, and not that much smaller in the shoulders, seriously."

Kisame blinked at him, then snarled, making Hidan cower. The teen couldn't really get out of this predicament now – _'he got himself in it, and now his hearts beating too fast. Damn human blood' –_ and Kisame couldn't resist leaning down and sinking his fangs into Hidan's neck.

Hidan stiffened slightly, but Kisame could sense that Hidan was forcing his body to calm down.

_'He's getting better,' _Kisame thought proudly, pulling away – he hadn't really sucked that much blood out of Hidan. He'd already gotten more than enough from Sakura, and he got off of Hidan while remarking, "you're getting better at calming yourself down, but its your pulse you've gotta' control. Drives me crazy sometimes," Kisame tenderly touched his shoulder, shook his head and stared at Hidan as the teen got up, "little monster."

Hidan huffed and raised a hand to heal Kisame's shoulder while his neck healed itself. He bounced over to his bed and said, very childishly, "tuck me in, daddy."

Kisame burst into loud laughter, and when he finally calmed down he smiled and shook his head at Hidan before walking over and pulling the blankets over him. He leaned forward and kissed his forehead, "good night, son."

"Good night. Now go be a good dad and say good night to my mom, seriously."

Kisame laughed again, but did as he was told. He exited Hidan's room, walking down the hall and into Kurenai's room. She was reading a book when he walked in, her reading glasses on.

She looked up and her red eyes widened slightly as he approached her, pressing his hands into the mattress, "I have been instructed by my kid to be a good dad and say good night to his mom."

He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, but she turned her head and caught his lips. He stiffened, then relaxed, _'it's nothing really...'_ her tongue slipped into his mouth.

No. It _was_ something. Technically he was cheating on Sakura.

He pulled away quickly and quietly warned, "Kurenai..."

Kurenai brought the book to her face and whispered, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Kisame. I just... I – I'm lonely."

He frowned and rested a hand on her head, "I know, kid. I know. But you should know that Hidan won't mind if you want to sleep next to him. You may only be his caretaker but he really sees you as his mother, you know that?"

"Yes, yes I know that. I do know that," she sniffed, climbing out of her bed. Kisame followed her as she hurried down the hall and entered Hidan's room. He stood in the doorway.

"Kurenai? Oh, hey, what -" she just pulled back the blankets and curled up against Hidan's side. Kisame watched as Hidan turned to that he could sling his arm over Kurenai.

"_Thanks, Kisame,"_ the blue Vampire heard in his head. He smiled at Hidan and nodded; Hidan smiled back.

"_No problem, kid. I'll be heading out, then."_

"_Sure thing. See ya tomorrow."  
_

"_See ya."_

--

The Christmas party came too fast, in Hidan's opinion. He and Konan could not stop being shy and unable to speak around each other, either out of embarrassment or due to the harassment they never stopped receiving from Deidara.

Hidan tugged at the collar of his shirt, _'I hope he lets up at the party. Pein's already pissed, seriously. But I honestly don't get what that guys freakin' problem is.'_

Sakura sat in the passenger seat of the car as Kisame drove them over to Konan's to pick her up. She wouldn't stop fidgeting or glancing back at Hidan with a twinkle in her eye.

Nothing really happened when Konan got in the car except for her saying 'hi' to everyone. Hidan crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window.

Kisame's mansion was brilliantly decorated, lights hanging all around the building. Cars were crowding the area, keeping Kisame from getting to his garage. He didn't mind though, and the four plunged through the snow, Konan clinging to Hidan for warmth.

"Should've brought a jacket, girl," he muttered. She scowled up at him and replied, "I didn't expect it to get this cold!"

Hidan just chuckled as they entered the building. Then he looked at Konan and stared.

The lights on the highway had offered little light, and he hadn't been paying much attention to her, but now that they were in better light he could see her dress. The back of it fell down to her ankles, the front of it a bunch of ruffles that started from the middle of her left calf. As his eyes traveled up he was glad at least that the dress had sleeves, but the neckline was low, exposing a little bit of cleavage. He swallowed lightly and looked away, only to be grabbed by her and dragged onto the dance floor.

He recovered, _'gee, she's eager. Uh, don't look down, boy. Just don't look down. Look at her face. Her _faace!_'_

As they waltzed around on the floor, he found he could only stare at her face. She was gorgeous without the heavy makeup, the light blue eyeshadow much better on her eyes than the heavy blue. There was a sheen on her lips; she was only wearing gloss. That was a first. He also noticed that she had a necklace on as he spun her around.

They danced for several songs, and when the slow song came Hidan wanted to bolt. Because it meant her body would be very close to his. And it meant that his head would probably be resting on her shoulder. He tugged her off the floor, and watched with a bit of guilt as a look of disappointment crossed her features.

"I'm thirsty," he explained, and it wasn't far from the truth.

"My neck is here," she purred teasingly, tapping her neck. He blushed, remembering what had happened after the movie that fateful day.

"No, r-really Konan. I'm thirsty for punch. Not hungry for blood."

She frowned, sticking out her lower lip. He glared at her, wrinkling his nose and pursing his lips. She giggled and walked off, going to chat with Ino and Sakura – Ino was Sasori's date.

As the clock struck twelve people began leaving, mostly in pairs. Hidan was talking with a few guys he knew when he heard high heels clicking on the floor. He turned his head to see that Konan was walking over, a small frown tugging down the corners of her lips.

_'Oh crap. Is something wrong?'_ he gave her a look as she came to stand next to him, resting her hand on the arm that he had up, holding his glass. The other guys stopped talking and stared at her. She spoke, "I need to talk to you," and then she glanced at them, "_alone_."

Hidan nodded and handed off his glass. One of the other guys took it as Hidan led Konan away and up the stairs, walking calmly into one of the spare rooms. He glanced over his shoulder at her, noticing the blush on her cheeks.

Once she had walked in he closed the door, carefully locking it, then wondering what he'd just done. He shrugged off the feeling that made butterflies go bonkers in his stomach as he reached for the light switch.

"Don't uh – d-don't turn it on."

He froze then said, "okay. What did you want to talk about, Konan?"

She was quiet for a moment, then, "bite me first."

He tilted his head curiously, then walked over to her. She was standing in front of the window, sitting on the sill a bit, her hands pressed against the wood. Hidan stood in front of her, resting his hands on the sill next to hers. He watched as her eyes became lidded and her breathing escalated. Her moist lips parted.

"I'm not gonna' bite you, Konan," he whispered huskily, pushing his body between her legs, making her catch her breath, "I've got a hunch I know what this is about. But before you start talking," he licked his lips, moving his head towards hers, "I wanna' try something first, seriously."

He pressed his lips to hers, eyes sliding closed. She kissed him back timidly, a hand rising to rest on his shoulder. He pulled away slightly; her hand went into his hair. He pressed his lips to hers again, harder this time. Her left leg came up around his waist, followed by her right leg. Her other hand went to his face.

He slipped his tongue out of his mouth, grazing her lower lip and tasting raspberry. He thrust a hand into her hair, then pulled, tugging out the hair tie, causing the flower to fall, her hair cascading over her shoulders. He moved closer, and she released a muffled moan against his lips.

He pulled back to catch his breath, and listened as she caught hers too. It seemed like she was about to speak but he shook his head and whispered, "one more thing."

She tilted her head at him, arms slinging over his shoulders, "o-okay..."

He leaned toward her again, but instead of pressing his lips to hers, he opened his mouth and slid his long tongue past her slightly parted lips.

* * *

Hope you liked. Teh naughty stuffs next chapter, and da title is... **Heat of the moment. **Ha ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH IT'S REALLY FITTING WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT!! *evil laugh* ... BTW. I'm tired. GOOD NIGHT! *sleeps*


	10. Chapter 9: Heat of the moment

Don't be deceived by the happy-sounding nature of the chapter's title.

Songs: "The city is at war" by Cobra Starship and "Riot" by Three Days Grace.  
**

* * *

Chapter 9: Heat of the moment.  
**

Konan's hands flexed against his face and her legs tightened around his body. Hidan wanted to get closer to her but the fact that she was in the window wasn't allowing this to happen. He got a little frustrated and growled.

She hopped down, tightening her arms around his neck. The kiss deepened, Hidan tugging on her hair, forcing her to tip her head back. He pushed her up against the wall and broke off, breathing heavily.

_'Maybe... maybe this is what she wants?'_ he wondered, trying to decipher the look in her eyes. She shivered, hugging Hidan closer. He pulled her away from the wall, clutching her to his chest. He glanced several times at the bed, judging whether or not it would be a good thing to take her over to it.

_'It would be warmer, seriously,'_ he assured himself, guiding her over to it. She sat on it but tugged at him too, pulling him down onto her. He breathed in her scent deeply, nuzzling her neck with his nose. He smiled and lipped her neck; she wasn't wearing perfume. Her blood was good enough.

Konan's hands were curious enough. She pawed at his chest, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. He raised his head; her hand slid up the back of his neck. She pressed down on his head. He let her kiss him while he concentrated on the strings holding her dress on. He undid them, and tugged down on her dress and pushed her over.

She gasped against his lips and he deepened the kiss. Their tongues danced in her mouth, deep probing caresses. He broke off and kissed slowly down her neck. She pressed her head back into the pillow, her ankle stroking his calf. He raked his fangs over her neck very gently, eliciting a whimper from her. Her hand pressed against his head.

He complied, sinking his fangs slowly into her neck. She arched into him and he growled lowly, pulling his fangs back out and sucking at her neck. She sighed in pleasure, her arms wrapping around him so that he lay on top of her.

Something pricked at the back of Hidan's mind and in a chiding voice he heard Kisame growl, _"no, Hidan."_

He licked the bite mark and rolled off of Konan, keeping his back to her.

"_Good boy," _and then Kisame's presence left Hidan's mind. He sighed. Konan gingerly touched his back and he sensed that she'd turned. Her back pressed against his a moment later, and Hidan sat up to pull the blankets over both of them.

--

Hidan was awoken by soft lips on his. His violet eyes flicked open and seeing that it was Konan he relaxed, breathing into the kiss. He felt her smile before she pulled back.

"Morning sleepy head."

He smiled cutely at her, "hi."

She giggled and gestured toward her dress, "you bad, bad boy."

He blushed and sat up, looking down at his chest and reiterating, "you bad, bad girl."

They both laughed and there was a knock on the door. Hidan scrambled up and opened it. Kisame stood on the other side, arms crossed over his chest. Hidan paled.

"Have fun?"

Both Hidan and Konan blushed. Hidan glanced over his shoulder to see that Konan was trying to get her dress back on properly. Hidan sniffed and sneered at Kisame, "maybe if you hadn't frikkin' interrupted we would have, seriously."

Kisame's eyes grew as wide as saucers, his eyes darting around, "er..."

"Yeah, exactly."

Konan gave Kisame a look, "ugh! That was why he rolled off of me! Kisame!"

He bolted. Both Hidan and Konan exchanged looks before laughing.

"Hey, gimme a hand with this will you?" she demanded lightly, gesturing to her dress.

"Okay," he walked over and tied her dress on properly, resting his hands on her waist for a few minutes. He sighed and pulled away, walking toward the door.

"Does this mean that...?"

He stopped and whirled around, "what _did_ you want to talk about yesterday, seriously?"

Konan's face turned red and she stared down at the ground. She was chewing on her lower lip. Hidan quirked an eyebrow, _'now I really wish I could frikkin' read minds... ugh...'_

He released a sigh of frustration and ran his fingers agitatedly through his hair, ruffling it up.

"'Does this mean that' what?"

Konan opened her mouth to speak but Kisame appeared again behind Hidan. He slung an arm around Hidan's shoulders and peered keenly at Konan. She quickly shut her eyes, face turning scarlet. Kisame laughed.

"Eh, girl, I need to take you home. It's one in the afternoon. Your mom has already threatened me."

"Threatened you?"

Kisame swallowed lightly, "your mom is Anko. Anko is known for being flirtatious. And is known for jumping guys when they least expect it. She's already threatened that she'll make me stay for supper and... well, don't make that face."

Hidan drew back slightly at Konan's furious expression. She stomped toward Kisame and grabbed his wrist, dragging him away.

"Yo, Hidan, you're gonna' be down at the court tomorrow right?"

"Uh, the ones near Sakura's right? Yeah I'll be there."

Konan glanced between the two before muttering something about talking to her mother. Kisame laughed at her words.

--

Konan didn't quite understand why the Akatsuki were going to play basketball in the cold weather but she agreed to show up there anyway. Under her mother's orders Konan bundled up nicely before piling into her mother's car. Anko had to turn the key a few times before the car finally started - "darn cold," she said.

Konan watched the clouds as her mother backed out of the driveway, tracing their shapes with her eyes. They were on the road when her mother asked a question, "did you ask him yet?"

Of course, Konan stared down at her hands and blushed, "n-no I haven't been given the – the _opportunity_ to d-do so."

"Well, you better ask him soon. Your ex is starting to scare the living daylights out of me."

Konan shuddered, _'I can't believe he was stalking around my house like a predator. I'm so glad Kisame snarled at him and scared him off.'_

Her mother voiced Konan's thoughts, "I'm so glad Kisame drove you home. I've never seen Pein so scared before. But the way Kisame snarled now that -"

"Mom, he has a girlfriend," Konan chirped quickly, squishing all of her mother's hopes of getting with the man, "plus, I don't think I'd be able to survive with a mind-reading Vampire as my father."

Anko giggled at the last comment, turning a corner. She squinted out the windshield at a man standing on the side of the curb. He had raised a hand as if to flag them down.

"Who's - ?"

"Kakuzu I think. I've never formally met him. He's Tobi's dad," Konan informed her mother, unbuckling her seatbelt as her mother slowed to a stop. As Konan got out she turned red.

"You take good care of her you hear?"

She stomped around the front of the car as Kakuzu laughed softly, nodding his head.

"We'll do our best to keep her from getting abducted. Shoo," he flicked a hand at Anko a few times, making the woman pout. She blew a kiss to Konan – who blew it back – before driving away. Kakuzu jerked his head toward the stairs and Konan followed him up.

"You look dressed for the weather," she teased as they came to the top step. Her comment startled laughter out of Kakuzu and he clapped a hand to his mouth to smother the sound. She giggled at him and managed to understand his muffled words: "I can change my body temperature."

She headed toward the bleachers that rose high off the ground under a kind of roof. Looking toward the courtyard she saw that Sakura was also here. She was currently holding the ball and refusing to let it go.

"Hey, Kakuzu," he turned his head toward her, "could you tell Hidan to come over here?"

"Sure thing," the older Vampire began walking toward the other seven. Hidan had gotten the ball away from Sakura and Kisame was holding her tightly in his arms. She was protesting vehemently but was awed as much as Konan was when Hidan easily dunked it. She swallowed lightly, _'why do I always have to forget how tall he is?'_

Kakuzu approached Hidan and jerked his head in Konan's direction, obviously telling the albino that he had been requested. Konan looked away at the lines of houses on the street. This basketball court was in urban areas, just on the outskirts of the city. And it was very pretty.

She watched Hidan as he approached her, tossing the ball listlessly over his shoulder. Tobi caught it and assumed a game of keep-away with Sasori. The object was to keep the ball away from a reluctant Zetsu. Konan refrained from giggling.

Hidan hopped onto the bleachers and settled onto the step just about the one she was resting her feet on. He leaned his head against her ribcage, tilting his head back jerkily to look up at her, "hey."

"H-hi," she stuttered. He grabbed one of her hands and played with her fingers. He stared at the court in concentration and nipped one of her fingers by accident, making her squeak. He grinned sheepishly at her but didn't release her hand.

"What's up?"

She attempted not to smile while glaring over at Kisame – she succeeded only in pouting. The way Hidan was acting was enough of a tip off that he knew something he shouldn't and Konan blamed Kisame for it. Hidan nibbled cutely on her pointer finger and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Come on, Konan, spit it out already."

"I think you already know because _someone_ told you," she informed him, glaring icily at Kisame. Kisame felt her glare and grinned back, waving. Sakura wrapped her arms securely around his torso and muttered something. Kisame picked her up, rubbing her bare legs with his free hand.

"Cold legs," Hidan muttered, sitting next to Konan now, "that's what she gets for wearing a damn skirt, seriously. He warned her."

Konan could only blush; Hidan had slipped his arm around her waist.

"You know, he just dropped the damn hints. He didn't tell me a single thing. Just dropped hints. I figured it out on my own so don't go giving him hell for it."

Konan sighed and figured that Hidan was probably right. He was the smartest student at Saint Mary's, and she wasn't giving him the credit he deserved.

"Come on. Teeell meee."

"I thought you knew."

"I wanna' hear you say it, 'cause I wanna' be sure I was right," he nosed her head. She couldn't help giggling.

"I want you to be my boyfriend, Hidan," silently she added, _'because I want to feel safe and I only feel safe with you' _but she felt that would make her seem selfish. Hidan's arm tightened around her like he had heard her thought. She leaned against him, securing her arms around his chest.

She watched as Deidara appeared to be sneaking toward them. Hidan twitched and then snarled, "Deidara, you come any closer and I'll stick you like a roasting pig you hear?"

Deidara shrieked and leapt into Itachi's waiting arms, "OH MY GOSH ITACHI SAVE ME! _RUN!_"

And Itachi faithfully ran around the court in circles until Deidara started laughing. Then he dropped him and the two got into a little wrestling match that Tobi enthusiastically joined. Konan and Hidan eventually got off the bleachers and Madara jumped off of Kakuzu's shoulder. Konan and Sakura decided, because they were women and Madara was like a little boy, that they would chase him as so the "men" didn't humiliate themselves. Kakuzu was very, very grateful.

That was when the problem arose.

_'Where is that pesky little thing going!'_ she and Sakura finally had him cornered but now he was climbing. Suddenly, he froze. Konan felt a vibe coming off the Vampires that she didn't like and she turned to Sakura. Even though the pinkette didn't go to Konan's school she had already been dating a Vampire for a year.

Konan found that Sakura's eyes were wide. She looked frightened of something. She followed Sakura's gaze and found herself scared as well. All the Akatsuki were staring at the two girls with hard narrowed eyes. Madara shot past the two girls, crying weakly as he scrambled onto Kakuzu's hand. A collective breath went through the Vampires but Kisame's hard face stayed.

"Sakura. Konan. Get over here. Now."

Sakura gabbed Konan's hand tightly and hurried back to his side. She clutched his sleeve tightly, on the brink of tears it seemed.

"Wha-what's going on? What scared him?" Konan asked Kakuzu, gesturing toward Madara. Kakuzu patted him on the head and he whimpered, "he saw a Slayer. He thinks the Slayer may have also seen him."

"Is there like... a rule that you guys aren't allowed down here?" she questioned cautiously. Deidara bared his fangs and hissed, "there _was_. Way back when, a day before Fu-gay-ku and his punks left."

Kisame scowled at him and restated, "we were confined to the ghettos. _Fugaku_ and his _company_ left three days before it was decided that we were to be treated fairly and equally to humans. We were never allowed in this neighborhood," he swept a big blue hand around the area, "until that time. Fugaku and his men don't know that. Madara believes that the man he saw was from Fugaku's company."

Konan felt Hidan by her side and she reached for him instinctively, much like Sakura had for Kisame. After five minutes the Vampires calmed down and started a game of half-court basketball. Konan and Sakura joined in, and the guys pouted that now they had to be "gentle" and "gentlemanly". Itachi had no problem doing so, and though he was on the opposing team from her he helped Konan line up a shot. It swished and Deidara whined, "Iiiitttaaachiiii!"

Itachi stared at him innocently.

And Kisame's hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

"Zetsu. Get Sasori out of here. Now. _Go_."

Zetsu was startled and for a moment he stared at the back of Kisame's head. Then he grabbed Sasori's arm. Konan blinked at the normally hyper red-headed boy. He looked like he was in a semi-petrified state.

Zetsu started whispering to him, slowly bringing him out of it. Sakura approached Kisame, whispering his name on the wind and reaching out toward him. He reached back slightly as if to take her hand but retracted his arm and took a deep breath.

"Take Sakura with you."

He lifted his hand off of Itachi's shoulder.

_'Why did he - '_ then it struck Konan and she hugged herself, eyes wide with fear, _'Slayers. Itachi's shoulder. Bullets... oh no...'_

Sakura protested violently, "_NO!_ Kisame!" she wriggled out of Zetsu's arms and he called after her, "Saku**ra!**"

She latched onto Kisame's arm, tears streaming down her face. He had his sword in his hand now and he was staring – no, glaring out at something only he could see. Konan backed into Hidan, who wrapped his arm around her waist.

Kisame was attempting to get Sakura off his arm without hurting her but she stubbornly stayed attached. Konan heard her sob out, "I'm not leaving you."

"Hidan, what's going on?" she asked frightened. He didn't respond. He merely looked down at her, glanced at Kakuzu, shared a look with Kisame and stared off into the distance.

Strange black threads emerged from the stitches on Kakuzu's arms and coiled tightly around Sakura.

"I'll take her," Kakuzu informed Kisame. Sakura cried loudly, "no! Kisame! Ki-sa-me!"

To Konan it sounded oddly like Sakura had just said "kiss me". Kisame grabbed Sakura's face in both of his hands and did just that.

"Sakura I can't lose you and I'm not taking this chance," he wiped away her tears with his thumbs and stroked back her hair. He nodded to Kakuzu, "go; she's safest with you. Tobi, you know what to do."

Tobi nodded, his face in a pout. Kakuzu was off with Sakura in tow and Tobi not far behind, Madara acting as a scout.

"Deidara, Itachi, Hidan, take Konan with you and get out of here. Get to the ghetto if you can."

The three nodded but Deidara protested lightly, "Konan should've gone with Kakuzu."

"Deidara we don't have time for that!" Itachi snapped, gesturing to his back, "get on. We need to leave. Zetsu is already gone."

Konan scrambled onto Hidan's back without complaint; she was too terrified. Hidan turned around to watch Kisame.

"Go, Hidan. Just go."

Then Kisame was gone, shooting off like a rocket toward some source that Konan couldn't see. As Hidan took off a gunshot rang through the air. Konan thought she heard Sakura scream and she closed her eyes tightly.

_'Please God, oh please keep him safe. Please.'_

--

He expected the shot even as he swung his sword back and threatened them with it. It rang out and missed him by at least a foot. He heard Madara's screech as his sword connected solidly with the concrete an inch in front of the man who had fired. Fear flickered through the Slayer's eyes.

Kisame shifted behind them all and snarled, "Fugaku. I thought Shikaku told you that the rules _changed_."

"He's obviously been brainwashed by your kind."

"My kind _can't_ brainwash. Idiot. If you're smart," he growled to a Slayer turning to leave, "you'll stay put. Unless you want me to kill you."

The Slayers froze; even Fugaku seemed shocked, "you'd kill him for chasing the others in your coven?"

Kisame sneered, "have you forgotten, Fugaku, that your own _son_ is in my coven?"

Fugaku growled angrily and repeated his question. Kisame gestured toward the gun, "he fired. According to Shikaku – _your boss –_ I would have a valid reason to kill him."

Fugaku growled again and confidently said, "you can't defeat us."

Kisame flicked his wrist, "I'm the guy who took out a Squad by himself. Don't test me, and don't get cocky. You should only get cocky when you know you can win."

Kisame shot off again, knowing they would chase him. He also knew that one of them would go after Deidara's lead; the blonde had dropped it under orders of course.

Everything happened as he planned, except for one detail. One detail that had slipped his mind completely.

He let the first shot clip his shoulder.

--

Hidan backed Konan against a wall, growling lowly in his chest. Konan clung to him desperately, wanting to see and not wanting to see the Slayer behind him, past Deidara and Itachi.

Itachi's fangs dripped red. Not because he had bitten the man but because he wanted to let this man know he was a venomous Vampire; only venomous Vampires had red tipped fangs.

The Slayer warily watched Deidara's clay figurines as the blonde snarled, "make one wrong move and you're dead."

The Slayer sighed and bent over, leaving his gun on the ground. He kicked it a little toward them, "happy?"

"Hardly," Itachi spat. He glared at the gun in distaste and retracted his fangs. Deidara bared his so the Slayer wouldn't relax.

"Why do you have the girl with you?"

"Girlfriend of the pretty boy, yeah," Deidara hissed as if it was obvious. The man nodded slowly, as if he was confused.

"He's a half-breed," Itachi added after receiving the okay from Hidan.

_'I don't see why the jerk-off shouldn't know. It would make more sense to him that way.'_

He was looking around though and finally he sat on the floor and sighed, "where's the other girl?"

All three Akatsuki Vampires were on alert then, "what do you mean?" Itachi asked, a hint of bewilderment in his voice.

"I mean, the other girl. Where is she? There was another girl with you. There were eight of you plus some weird little masked dude," he threw up his hands in fright when Deidara lunged at him. Itachi snagged Deidara while the blonde sputtered, "YOU! You were the one who told them that we were there! You saw Mada!"

"Hey, woah, cool it. I – I was just doing my job. I w-was – I didn't return with the company! You could read my mind if you want. I wasn't debriefed with the others."

Itachi shared a look with Hidan and he finally eased away from Konan. He walked toward the man while Deidara retreated to Konan and held her securely to his body, hissing a little at the man.

"Alright, we'll believe you – for now. You better not be lying to us or your dead as hell, seriously."

The man looked pained, "I'm not lying. I'm just trying to do my job."

"How did you know there was another girl with us?" Hidan quizzed, ignoring the comment. The man remained silent until Hidan bared his fangs; pearly white and glowing.

"Healer..." he muttered then shook his head and looked around. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if to speak, but he revealed something that made Hidan stumble back in shock.

He had revealed his own set of gleaming fangs.

--

Kisame flexed his hand and caught the bullet as it fell out. He smirked lightly; his other wounds were already healing. He'd noticed that only two men still had bullets in their guns.

_'Time to make them waste the rest,'_ he held his hand over the edge of the roof top where he was taking a breather, _'come and get me...'_

He watched as they looked up and dodged his blood like it would transform them. He took off along the buildings, putting Samehada away. There was no point in having it out.

_'... if you dare.'_

--

"Wha – wha – _what the hell!?_" Hidan finally managed to exclaim. The Slayer cringed and his fangs tucked back away in his mouth, "hey, keep it down will you. My ears are sensitive."

Deidara's face reddened, "everything about you sensitive yeah! Your a freaking – freaking _sensor._ Of course your sensitive!"

"Deidara he knows that. He knows what he is," Itachi pulled Hidan away from the other half-breed and placed himself between them, flicking his fangs once.

"How can Slayers not know when they have one of us among their own forces?"

The man sighed, "I'm Tyler. And just so you know, Fugaku can't tell the difference between a Vampire and a human unless you flap it in his face. Literally. Sorry. He's your dad right?"

"He was never bright. Less apology, more explanation."

Tyler swallowed, "there's only a handful of half-breeds in the system. Mostly the reason why we get in is because we know how to mask our Vampiric side. I'm mostly human, and this might surprise you but I don't have to feed on human blood to live."

"What? But you have fangs! That makes no fucking sense!" Hidan exclaimed, staying wisely on his rear less he fall over again. Tyler shook his head.

"You're a lucky one. You're _exactly_ half-Vampire and half-human. You're fifty-fifty. Me? I'm twenty-eighty. Mostly human. There's this one half-breed – and I have _no_ idea how he got past the Slayers – that's in the force. He's ninety-ten. Yeah you heard me. Mostly Vampire. Don't know how he does it."

"That's why Kisame let you come after us..." Itachi muttered under his breath, "because I interrogate and store information in my brain," his red eyes flicked to Tyler, "keep talking. This is food for me. Feed me."

Tyler gulped and paled, "no... no that's bad..." he was talking to himself. Itachi perked up, "what?"

"They're here... they... that Kisame guy... don't tell them I'm a half-breed. They'll kill me."

Hidan's eyes widened, _'what the hell? Kisame's here? What? What? I'm confused.'_

"They're here, don't you understand?! They chased him here! I know the rest of you are here I can sense you! I can sense that girl! It's not good; she's freaking out. They're downstairs. Go, _go, _damn it, _GO!_"

Deidara rushed off with Konan, Hidan following closely. He listened in on Itachi as he bounded down the stairs, "come with us!"

"No I can't! Look, I can't risk getting my cover blown! The Prince gave some of us orders you know..."

Itachi was by Hidan's side in a flash, refusing to argue further, his face pale.

"For the Prince to order half-breeds to join the Slayers... he knew this would happen, didn't he?"

Hidan didn't respond, _'he's talking to himself again. I hate it when he does that, seriously. Freaking creepy.'_

He halted right before he would have crashed through Deidara and stared blindly at the scene before him. Konan turned into his chest and his arms circled around her protectively. Deidara was snarling and spitting and clinging to Itachi mightily. Itachi stared at the Slayers, eyes wide.

Kisame was lying on the ground, on his back, a gunshot to the chest. It hadn't hit any vital point, _'except for maybe piercing his lung. Okay so that's a vital point. It pierced his lung. Its spreading. You better have fucking planned for that, dad. Oh gawds...'_

Kisame had propped himself up on his elbows and was staring with lidded eyes at Fugaku and his men. His hair had mostly flopped against his forehead. Blood had pooled on the ground when Kisame had been lying and the puddle continued to grow in size. Hidan saw Tobi suddenly lurch forward, Kakuzu's hand came out and Madara screeched like his life depended on it. Konan screamed; the gun went off.

* * *

Next chapter coming later tonight.


	11. Chapter 10: Race you to the finish

There. I told you it would be up tonight *goes off to write Finally*. This is probably the chapter right before the rising action starts. This story should be over in about 8 or less chapters.

Songs: "Apologize" One Republic ft. Timbaland, "Already Over" by Red, "My Obsession" by Skillet, "What hurts the most" by Rascal Flatts, "The City is at War" by Cobra Starship, "Here without you" by Three Doors Down, "Sadness and Sorrow" Naruto OST, "How to save a life" by The Fray and "Carry me down" by Demon Hunter.  
**

* * *

Chapter 10: Race you to the finish.**

She couldn't let it happen. If he was gone... if he died...

She looked around her; they would have nothing left. Her eyes landed on the albino. He would have nothing left.

She broke away from Kakuzu's hold and ran forward fearlessly. Kakuzu called after her and Madara screeched like it was his life. She watched a flicker of light in front of her; Tobi. Tobi was trying to protect her. Konan screamed and she listened as the shot rang out.

Pink hair flying as she turned sharply and nearly collapsed on Kisame. The bullet sang through her but lodged itself inside her heart.

Sakura knew it. She stared down at Kisame, smiling, as if nothing had happened, "Kisame."

His blue eyes were frantic, "Sakura? Sakura?"

He sounded so lost. She nodded and touched her hand to his cheek, "yes I'm here. Sh, it's okay. It's okay."

But tears filled up in her eyes anyway and blood dribbled out of her mouth, even as she soothed him. He was over her then and she was lying across his lap, still muttering, "it's okay, it's okay."

Her vision went blurry. Her Prince Charming remained by her side, staring down at her. His eyes held a mixture of disbelief and anger and confusion. Of course he wanted to know why she'd done that. She answered him, "they need you. Without you wuh-what do they hah-have?"

"Sakura? S... Sakura...?" she could see his fangs starting to show, his eyes growing smaller and smaller as his rage grew. Her eyes struggled to find Fugaku and she saw him, staring at the gun in his hands.

_'Yes, that's right,'_ she sneered inwardly, _'be afraid. Be very afraid. You killed an innocent girl; your punishment is death.'_

She reached up with a hand as Kisame lay her gently on the ground, "Kisa-Kisame. Mine," he let her wrap a dainty hand around one of his long fangs. She broke it off and held it against her chest, stroking his face one last time. Speaking, "it's okay."

His eyes turned pitch black.

--

They all ran forward, even though they could see Kisame was losing it. He released a low growl that bordered on being a roar and turned those frightening black eyes toward the Slayers. Hidan's face paled.

So much for Sakura's Prince Charming.

He exploded from his spot next to Sakura and Hidan replaced him. He might be able to save her. Kakuzu was trying to pull him away, or help, or both. Hidan snapped at him anyway, "back off! I might be able to save her!"

He put his hands on her slowly dying body, scanning her. His brows furrowed and he felt like crying.

_'I can still... try. I can try. Please... please...'_ he pulsed his power through her. Tobi was already sobbing loudly, Sasori trying to comfort him but nearly losing it himself. Deidara was causing mini explosions and finally fell into a bout of insanity. Konan jumped and clung to Hidan, pressing her tear-stained face to Hidan's side.

_'Deidara shut up.. Itachi make him shut up...'_ Hidan begged inwardly, unable to find his voice. Deidara continued to cry his heart out to the sky, demanding why while Itachi and Kakuzu both worked to calm him down. Zetsu was torn between comforting Sasori and Tobi or helping the other two.

He chose to comfort the crying younger Vampires.

Hidan pulled his hands away from Sakura and clenched them in his lap. Kisame's feet appeared, covered with blood and Hidan looked up at him, tears finally running down his cheeks.

"I can't – I can't do anything for her. I'm sorry."

Kisame shut his eyes tight and collapsed to his knees, hands coming up as if to yank his hair out of his skull. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

He pulled Sakura up into his arms and muttered, "Deidara, quiet."

The blonde shut up and fell sobbing into Itachi's arms. Tobi had shuffled over, hugging himself; Sasori was clinging to Zetsu.

"Ki-Ki-Kisame Tobi's sorry. T-Tobi failed to p-p-protect her. Tobi failed when you p-put so much t-t-trust in Tobi."

"No you didn't. You didn't fail. You did your best."

Tobi hacked out a sob and fled into Kakuzu's chest. The older Vampired just closed his eyes and rested a hand on Tobi's head.

Sakura was talking to Kisame, saying something along the lines of "my Prince Charming". Kisame lowered his head more and suddenly jerked it back up. Sakura was stroking his face again.

"Promise me..." she whispered, "promise me. You remember, what we talked about? You remember?" he nodded and she continued, "promise me. Kurenai... promise me..." her eyes began to slowly close, "I love you..."

Her words flew away on the wind.

--

"Just listen to that thunder, will you dear?" Mrs. Haruno called up the stairs. Mr. Haruno laughed, "yes, I hear it. Very loud."

There was a knock at the door and Mrs. Haruno abandoned her dish washing and dried her hands. She flung her apron to the table while calling, "coming!"

She opened the door and came upon Kisame. She smiled, "Kisame! It's good to – see... you... what -?"

His face was distraught, grim and he looked close to tears. His blue eyes glanced down at his arms and she looked down. Sound hummed in her ears and her breaths came out labored and quick.

"Sa-kura? Sakura? SAKURA?!" she screamed and screamed and screamed. She threw her arms around Kisame and her dead daughter, crying against his chest. She felt him rest his head against hers and a wet spot began to grow on her head. It wasn't rain.

"Honey whats – _oh my gawd! _Kisame?! Sakura?! NO! NO!" he rushed forward too, wrapping one arm around Kisame's head and the other around his wife, Sakura between them. Konan tucked herself away under Hidan's arm.

--

"Anko said she and Konan will be there. Half her school will be there too. Uh... I'll shut up now, seriously."

Kisame just nodded his head, staring blankly out the windshield. They had already dropped off Konan and were now heading to Hidan's home. Hidan wondered how Kurenai was going to react when they told her.

However, when he entered the house, Kisame dragging in after him, Kurenai came bounding out of the kitchen to throw her arms around Kisame.

_'She already knows...'_ Hidan realized, somewhat sadly. Kisame's arms twitched as his sides, Sakura's last words going through his mind no doubt. Kurenai pulled away before he could react, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry, Kisame."

He just nodded, staring out the window. The funeral was the next day.

Kurenai hugged Hidan tightly and he hugged her back while whispering, "he needs time. Just give him time, seriously."

"I know. I know he needs time. You don't need to tell me that."

Hidan nodded, "I'm going to my room. Kisame... you can stay with us if you want."

Again, he simply nodded and, frustrated now, Hidan walked up the stairs and into his room.

--

The casket was lowered slowly into the ground, Kisame standing closest to the grave. Hidan held an umbrella over his and Konan's heads, looking around him at all the people. Sasuke, Itachi's little brother and Naruto, Sasuke's best friend, were especially distraught. Deidara stood out in the rain, mouth twisted into a wide frown. Itachi held both Naruto and Sasuke to his body, trying to comfort them; their mother held a large umbrella over their heads.

_'Sakura was loved by a lot of people. I swear the entire damn community is here..._' his thoughts trailed off and his gaze returned to Kisame. He was staring up at the sky, his hair matted to his face and preventing any view of his facial features.

By the time the funeral ended the clouds were starting to clear. Hidan got tired of holding up the umbrella and he closed it. Konan didn't mind at all and she spoke, "is he gonna' be okay?"

Hidan blinked slowly, "I – I don't know, Konan, to be honest. I hope – I hope he will be..."

She turned and wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her back.

--

Kisame knew he was coming before he even got there. Of course Shikaku would show up, even though he had explicitly been asked not to come. He came anyway – thankfully after the funeral was done. Kisame started walking toward where he knew the car would be stopping. He chanced a glance at Mikoto and saw her glaring at the cruiser that pulled up. Shikaku stepped out but didn't move any closer.

Kisame stopped, "not coming any closer?"

"I'm not wanted here. So I wouldn't dare approach. I didn't send them, Kisame."

"I know you didn't."

"I'm terribly sorry. I don't – I don't know what to do..."

Kisame appeared in front of him, eyes hard, "you don't have a choice now. You have to find a way to banish the Vampires. You have to send us away before a civil war breaks out – among the Slayers."

Shikaku blinked at him, "what?"

Kisame waved Tyler over. The boy came quickly and tapped Shikaku on the arms. Once he had the man's attention he bared his fangs and then quickly retreated.

"Listen to me, Shikaku. You have to send us away. That's the only way you can win Fugaku's men over and you know it."

Shikaku looked pained, "Kisame, I couldn't do that. Things just got better between me and Hidan, and you and the others. This is obviously something only you and I will know about -"

"- obviously."

"- but I can't betray that kind of -"

"- and if the Prince decides that this is how it works?"

Shikaku was silent then said, "only if the Prince confirms that. To me. In person. I don't want to send you guys away, Kisame. The people will hate me."

"Them hating you is a lot better than the freaking Slayers turning on each other. You have at least eight half-breeds in your ranks. At least eight. They're there for a reason. Their cover _can't_ be blown, and shed blood will do it the quickest."

Shikaku tensed and then slowly nodded, "this is a race against time, isn't it, Kisame?"

Kisame closed his eyes, listening to the angry voices of the Slayers all around him, "yes, Shikaku. It's a race against time. You have exactly two months to get us out of here. Two months, or all hell breaks loose."

* * *

Yes. Kisame and Shikaku are plotting something. OH SNAP!


	12. Chapter 11: Upwards and In

VAMP chapter 11. The plan is now taking effect.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Falling upwards and in.**

"I don't know what to do."

"_Well, think of something."_

"Do you have _any_ idea how hard that is? To come up with something and make it believable?"

There was a sigh from the other side of the line,_ "I do know that."_

Shikaku glared at the wall, "listen, Kisame. I've got one of my best Slayer squads digging up info on anything I can use," he heard the unasked question and replied, "it's Raptor's group. He's always had good insight."

Kisame was quiet. Shikaku furrowed his brows, "so when's the Prince coming? You've been confident enough to convince me to do this."

"_Soon. He's coming soon. Just trust me on this, Shikaku. I know this better than you do."_

Shikaku sighed, "you do. Alright. Well, I'll be waiting," his office door opened and a Slayer poked his head in. Shikaku nodded at him, "I've got to go. I'll talk to you... later, I suppose."

"_Hn," _Kisame hung up. Shikaku looked up at the excited Slayer as he came to a stop at the desk, "I hope you have good news for me."

The young man tosses a folder onto the desk, "that's about a week's worth of info. There was a myth a while back that there was a disease in human blood that came and went. Like an airborne disease; except it only affected the Vampires. Got them real sick."

Shikaku stared at him and nodded for him to continue, "so we could bring back the myth. There are Vampires out there that can make themselves sick. If the Prince approves of this idea he can rally those few up. And," he pushed the folder toward Shikaku, "there were some Vampires who really got sick. Like, an honest sickness from drinking human blood. That's why I didn't give this to you till now; I wanted to make sure my info was accurate."

Shikaku slowly allowed himself to smile as he picked up the folder, "a week's worth? I'll look through this and show it to the Prince when he decides to come."

The Slayer nodded and Shikaku asked, "what's your name?"

"Jonathan."

"Codename?"

"Ruthless."

"Ruthless?" Shikaku repeated, surprised. Ruthless smiled sheepishly, "if you see me on the battlefield..."

"Ah. Right. Well, good work," Shikaku waved the folder at him, "I'll dig into this now."

Ruthless grinned and exited the office. After the door closed Shikaku released a heavy sigh. He flapped the folder in his hand before opening it.

Most of the contents were old newspaper reports and a few magazine clips. All of them looked very old and Shikaku's eyes widened as he realized just how much work Ruthless probably went to.

_'To find all this info... in a week... I can only imagine how hard it must have been to dig up all these old papers. Some of there are from... no, all of them are from Suna...'_ he gazed up at the ceiling in contemplation.

_'Vampires... living in a hot and sunny place like that. Must be highly nocturnal...'_

As he brought his eyes back to his desk he spotted a black wisp coiling near a corner. He took a shuddering breath before lifting his eyes to the tall, cloaked figure before the desk.

"You're here."

--

"Is it like this?"

"Nope."

"You didn't even look!"

Hidan turned his head, looking at her with raised eyebrows. Konan's face was flushed a light pink and she glared at him. He leaned toward her to look at her math work.

"You missed a step. And you got the wrong answer because of that," he informed her, tapping her work. Konan glared at the page and Hidan went back to nibbling on his hash brown.

"... I want some of that."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and touched one of his finger's to her lips, "I want some of _that._"

She blushed furiously and returned to her work, muttering something about him being unreasonable. He was halfway done with his food when one of her dainty hands coiled around his wrist. She tugged weakly and he started laughing.

"I waaant some! Gimme!"

He stole a kiss from her before setting the hash brown down – right on top of her work. She screeched, half in anger and half in glee, snatching up the oily, fried potato and gobbling it up. Hidan watched her in amusement, "I swear, you are so damn funny sometimes."

She glared at him and pointed to the oil stain on her work while grumbling, "your fault."

He rolled his eyes and stared out the window, "sure thing, babe."

Five minutes later and Hidan listened in satisfaction as she sighed and gave up on her math work, shoving it back into her bag, "I don't see why you refuse to help me until our tutoring session. Gawds, you are such a weird boyfriend."

"Boyfriend huh?"

Hidan froze and stood – Konan jumped nearly a foot into the air - glaring at Pein, "yeah, boyfriend. Get lost."

Pein lowered his head, gazing dangerously at Hidan. Hidan wrapped an arm around Konan's shoulders and bared his fangs, releasing a short hiss. As expected, Pein backed off, wary of Hidan's glimmering fangs.

"So be it," he growled before stalking off. Hidan stared after him; he didn't like how that sounded.

_'Sounds like he's talking to Konan, not me. What the hell's up with that?'_

"Konan? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as they left McDonald's. She shook her head from side to side, hugging her bag to her chest, "n-nothing."

Hidan narrowed his eyes at her, "oh, it's totally something. Come on, Konan. Talk to me."

She turned abruptly and buried her face in his chest.

"Can we go somewhere else?" he heard her say from somewhere in the vicinity of his chest. He nodded to no one in particular and hoisted her onto his back before rocketing off toward his home. How he wished he knew how to transport like Kisame and Zetsu did.

_'And Tobi. For gawds sake, even Tobi knows how to fucking transport. Ugh.'_

Hidan reached his home in record timing, bounding through the doors, up the stairs and into his room. He set Konan on the desk and she immediately began crying against his shoulder.

"Wha-!? Hey, baby, what's wrong? What the hell did he mean by that, seriously?"

"H-he threatened that s-s-something would h-happen to my m-mother if I s-s-started dating you..."

Hidan was silent for several minutes, slowly processing this information while Konan sobbed against him. His anger exploded from his mouth in the sound of a ferocious snarl.

"That _bastard!_ If he so much as lays a fucking finger on Anko I'll – I'll -"

He stormed away from the desk and snatched up his phone. Konan stared at him in mild surprise, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Come on, come on... one of you pick up..."

There was a click and then, _"yeah?"_

"Hey, I need you two to do me a big favor."

A pause and then, _"and what might that be?"_

"It concerns guarding someone."

"_Get down to it Hidan; my patience grows thin."_

Hidan smirked and then instructed, "guard Anko Mitarashi like your life depends on it – starting now – and contact Kisame if Pein or anyone else shows up. You heard me. Hop to it, seriously."

There was a brief laugh from the other side, _"will do. We'll head over there as soon as I finish getting dressed."_

Hidan laughed lightly, "alright. But, seriously, take care."

"_Of course. C'ya."_

"See ya," Hidan set his phone back down and approached Konan again. He brought her head to his shoulder and wrapped his arms securely around her.

"Anko's gonna' be in good fucking hands, Konan. And you... you'll be in mine."

--

Shikaku watched in anticipation as the Prince thought the plan over. He'd explained everything, adding a few details and making it absolutely clear that the "sick" Vampires – so they were called – participate in making the supposed myth a reality.

The Prince leaned back in his seat, "sounds like a great idea. So how many are you saying I should gather?"

Shikaku was thoughtful, "I was thinking that maybe you should rally up fifteen or twenty. It's up to them whether or not they want to get sick on the spot."

"And where do they go after that? Also, what if the human calls an ambulance? The doctors will know right away that the sick Vampire is pretending."

"... then they'll have to leave the human and get sick somewhere a Vampire will find them. Like their partner."

A smile was beginning to show itself on both men's lips.

"Sounds like a great idea. That means I'll either be getting thirty or forty pairs involved."

"The more, the better. This can't happen too soon though... hm... what time would be good?"

The Prince laughed, "can't have them all getting sick at the same time, you know. I'll just tell them that the next time they bite a human is when they get sick."

"You know, that's a really good plan. And then I'll arrange for them to be sent into the forest. You guys can – what? - whip up a village for yourselves in a day or two?"

"More like a town, but yeah. Won't take us too long. Even without me there."

"Excellent. So say a week after all the sick Vampires are out of Konoha I make the announcement for all the Vampires to be sent out of the city. And a week after that we get you guys on the trains and out to this little town?"

"Sounds good. Yes, this is a good plan," this Prince closed his brilliant eyes, listening, "it will be just in time too. As soon as the Slayers from Fugaku's brigade hear this they'll calm down. But there may still be a revolt from them, in the future," he got up to leave and then remembered something.

"When will you be bringing us back, then?"

"... six months later?"

The Prince was silent, "... yes, that's a good amount of time. Six months... perfect."

The Prince flashed Shikaku a toothy grin and then he disappeared, leaving Shikaku to relax against his desk in relief.

* * *

... MWAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! Oh gee. I wonder what Pein's going to do hm? And... do you know who Hidan called? ;P


	13. Chapter 12: Ten hut, forward march

I just realized how short this chapter is =.= Oh well. The next chapter will be psychotic and all action packed and things, plus the Prince is gathering up all the Vampires who can make themselves sick for their instructions. I mostly did this because I wanted to reveal the powers of the other Akatsuki Vamps that I hadn't revealed yet

Oh, and for those of you who thought it was Kakuzu Hidan was calling. WRONG ANSWER. It was Sasori XD (that was why I put the "my patience is growing thin" line in *cries*)**  


* * *

Chapter 12: Teeen HUT! Forward, MARCH!**

"Hidan called."

"I was listening."

"He wants us to protect Anko."

"Protect _Anko_?! Like, Anko-sensei?!"

"**No, he wants us to protect the store that sells ankos," **replied a smooth, dark voice sarcastically before growling, **"of _course_ Anko-sensei!"**

Sasori stared at Zetsu, who continued to argue with himself.

_'Of all people to argue with he argues with himself... sheesh...'_

"Look, bro. Shut up. Stop arguing with yourself. Sometimes I wonder if you're actually older than me."

This earned the fiery Vampire a glare from his older brother and he immediately darted underneath the couch. Zetsu sighed, "Sasori, come on. Get out from under there. We should go now and tell Anko that we've been ordered by Hidan to be her guardians. **Besides, she'll want to know where Konan-chan is. I'm assuming that **she's staying with Hidan."

Sasori poked his head out from underneath the couch, "... ya think?"

Zetsu's eyes widened unnaturally as his yellow eyes glinted with murderous intent. Sasori rocketed out of the room. Zetsu charged him while shrieking, "COME BACK HERE YOU**LITTLE DONKEY!!"**

Sasori burst into laughter, letting his feet carry him to Anko and Konan's home.

--

Hidan could absolutely not calm down. His heart was raging in his chest. He wouldn't admit he was a bit worried, not out loud anyway. It had been two hours since he had called Sasori and Zetsu.

Konan was sitting at his desk, quietly doing her math work. From what he could see though, she was shaking too much to be able to get any of it done.

"Konan, give it the hell up already. There's no fucking way you're gonna' be able to write if your hand is shaking like that."

She released a shuddering breath, "but, Hidan -"

"So skip."

She blinked at him several times then shrieked, "_SKIP!?_"

"Yeah, skip school," she charged at him and tackled him onto the bed, "HEY! That's the only damn time I'm letting you do that, seriously."

"I'm not skipping school!"

He let his eyes flash, _'yeah, I can make my eye color normal so HAH!'_

Konan released a startled gasp, "your – your eyes..."

"Yes, my fucking _eyes._ I can change they're color now," he flipped her onto her back and crawled spider-like over her, "so I can make them appear normal when they're sure as hell not."

She wrapped a hand around the back of his head and jerked it down to her neck. He released a short hiss against her neck before sinking his teeth into her skin.

--

"Kaku -" Sasori banged a fist against his chest, making himself cough harshly, "Kakuzu."

"_What the hell!? What's with your voice, kid?!"_

"Big problem – geez I hate it when my voice gets hoarse – get over to – ugh – Anko's place _now_. Pein's here with... like... seven other Peins."

"_... WHAT?!"_

"You heard me. Get down here, please. I don't know how much longer I'll hold out, and I don't think Zetsu can hide Anko forever..." Sasori coughed violently four more times, blood trickling down his chin, "one of the Peins... hits really hard."

"_Damn, kid. We'll be there soon. Should I get Itachi and Deidara just in case?"_

"Heck yes. Just hurry up and get here. Call them. Don't stop by their place; just call them. Deidara will definitly come if I'm in trouble and Itachi will," Sasori spat blood out of his mouth, "follow him faithfully."

"_Yeah, sure, sure,"_ there was a wind like sound, _"you better stay alive until we get there, puppet."_

"I will. I will I promise."

Sasori tossed his phone underneath the steel desk next to him. He collected himself and threw his body violently against the door to the room he was in. The shriek from the other side told him he had just jolted one of the Peins.

He wasted not a second and charged the door again, this time brining the door down. There was a satisfying crunch as he crushed the person on the other side of the door.

_'One down, six to go,'_ he chanted to himself. He raced out into the main room, saw all six Peins left and jumped into the air. He spun rapidly in circles and launched himself at the closest Pein.

The "look out" cry from one of the others was too late, and Sasori's spinning body drilled off parts of the man he had hit. He landed flat on the man and barely had time to roll out of the way of a black, cylindrical weapon. He bumped against the legs of one of the Peins and he immediately bent backwards, coiling his body around their legs.

"Such flexibility..." Sasori knew that voice and he grit his teeth, his fangs begging him to let them out.

_'No, no I can't show them my real power yet,'_ his body protested all his actions and he flinched, giving the Pein in his grasp enough time to escape from his hold. Sasori cursed lightly, _'guess I have no choice.'_

He crouched, releasing low growls from the back of his throat. If one of them was stupid enough they'd approach him, _'all I need is prey.'_

One Pein – the female one – got close enough. Sasori lunged at her and drove his fangs into her neck. She choked back a scream, and gargled. Sasori could feel his strength returning. He could feel his bones moving back into place.

Once he had drained her of all the blood he needed to heal his body, Sasori threw her down.

"That, is my first power and this," he whipped out his hands, attaching blue strings to the other Peins in the process, "is my trump card."

* * *

Hope you liked. More next chapter. And re-enforcements arrive. The story will be moving very quickly from here on forth.


	14. Chapter 13: Sharp

I think I may have said this chapter would be longer. I LIED. But, as promised, there is action. Not much, but there's action. And also, **my** Hidan doesn't swear when he's freaked out/scared.  
**

* * *

Chapter 13: Sharp.**

Sasori knew that the Peins did not like being controlled. They didn't like the fact that Sasori had complete control over their bodies. Sasori, unfortunately for them, liked controlling them.

_'Can't let them find Zetsu... gotta' keep my bro and Anko-sensei safe.'_

He didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep this up; controlled two puppets was easy, but controlling actual people that fought back? And six of them? That was no easy task.

No matter how hard he tried Sasori couldn't get any of them close enough to the real Pein; the one with spiked up hair and the snake-bite piercings. Sasori clenched his teeth and dropped to one knee, _'that's it. That's my limit. I'm done.'_

Kakuzu, for all his age and skill, never managed to be on time when he was really needed. Either that or Madara was causing problems. Sasori opted for the latter being the reason.

Pein walked toward him while the remaining three tried to heal the ones Sasori had killed. Blood was everywhere in the house, _'sorry, sensei. If you live, you'll have to relocate.'_

"I suppose that's the last of what you can do."

Sasori glared defiantly up at Pein, "and I suppose you're going to become a murderer for no good reason at all, except the fact that the love of your life has chosen someone else over you."

A murderous look overcame Pein's features and Sasori closed his eyes, _'I'm finished.'_

"_SAAAASSSSSSSSSOOOOOORRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"_

Sasori smirked, _'as usual, Deidara has perfect timing.'_

The crazy blonde went barreling into Pein. He opened his mouth and Sasori quickly covered his ears shouting, "VOLUME UP!"

Kakuzu, Tobi and Itachi who had come charging in skidded to a halt and covered their ears as well. Deidara let his explosive scream tear through the house, rendering the other Peins motionless and exploding their ear drums. Madara screamed along with Deidara, seemingly unaffected by Deidara's loud mouth.

Zetsu emerged from the far wall with Anko in his fly trap. His yellow eyes scanned the area and he quickly hopped out of the wall and dashed toward the other Akatsuki while the Peins were in torment from Deidara's screech.

"The screech of doom; works every time, yeah," Deidara commented, hauling Sasori to his feet. The red-head stumbled, "Sasori, get behind Tobi. Tobi; protect him."

"H-Hai, otou-san!"

Sasori was plopped behind Tobi to regain his strength. He noticed that the youngest among them was shaking like a leaf. He rested a hand on Tobi's leg.

"I know you can protect me, Tobi."

The shaking stopped. Zetsu was almost to them when the Pein with the longest hair whirled, a fist aimed right for Anko's head.

"BRO!"

Vines converged ahead of Anko and Zetsu jerked her out of the way. She clung to desperately, her nails making indents in his skin. Zetsu was slammed in the back by another Pein, and thrust in the direction of the long-haired one. Kakuzu intervened and his threads ripped the long haired Pein apart.

_'Three to go.'_

Itachi and the real Pein faced off. Itachi chased Pein into a different room so Sasori watched as Deidara and Madara teamed up to fight another Pein. The two remaining proved to be the most difficult two to fight.

"T-Tobi! Forget about me for now; get Anko and Zetsu out of there!"

Tobi glanced back at Sasori and looked back at Anko, then glanced back again. He whimpered and hurried forward while Kakuzu grappled with the larger of the two Peins. As Tobi was helping Anko drag Zetsu back to Sasori's position, there was a rush of wind behind Sasori.

He turned his head fearfully, eyes focused only on the glowing fist aimed for his skull.

--

Forests were very annoying for him. He did not like running through forests. He would much rather be sifting through water.

Judging from what Hidan had told him, Sasori and Zetsu were already at the house. If all was going smoothly, Kakuzu, Tobi, Itachi and Deidara would be there as well. He really needed to move more quickly.

_'Of all the things for Pein to attempt... poor, poor Konan...'_

He morphed into water and continued on his way.

--

Tobi's shield couldn't have been fast enough. Sasori jerked back just as the shield flickered into existence. Anko bumped into Sasori as Tobi landed in front of him. Zetsu's head was in Anko's lap.

_'He won't be able to keep that up forever. Damn, when did these Peins come back to life!?'_

The Pein in front of them refused to stop beating down on the shield. Every once in a while Tobi had throw his hands to one side, making the Pein falter. But that was the only thing Tobi could do; protect.

Sasori used the little bit of his strength that he had regained to barrel into the Pein. Tobi cried out, "Sasori-nii-chan!"

The Pein slammed Sasori into the wall and Tobi scampered up his back and wrapped his arms securely around the Pein's neck. The Pein proceeded to slam back against the wall, bashing Tobi again and again. Sasori didn't have the strength to stop the Pein. At this rate, Tobi would be crushed.

Sasori tried knocking the Pein over again but this time he was flung across the room. He heard Deidara scream his name before he hit the wall. Tobi fell limply from the Pein's back, and he advanced toward Anko, who was still holding Zetsu's head. She looked terrified.

Kakuzu and Deidara were too busy with the others to help her, though Kakuzu nearly reached the Pein approaching her with his threads – if he hadn't gotten punched in the stomach. He doubled over.

Sasori slowly began to lose consciousness, but not before he heard Anko yell one name, "_K-KISAME!!"_

--

"I suppose it could have been worse," Itachi muttered as Pein dashed away, avoiding all contact with Kisame. The blue Vampire had shown up right after Anko called his name. Kisame sighed.

"At least she called for me. I was able to teleport to her because of that."

"At least."

"How are you, Kakuzu?"

"I've been better."

"And Tobi?"

Kakuzu glared at the ground than at the young boy cradled in his arms. Blood streamed out of his mouth and down his forehead; it looked like it would never stop.

"Nearly crushed. Feels like his spine is broken."

Kisame flinched and Madara whimpered. Deidara was clinging hopelessly to Itachi's waist, staring wide-eyed at Sasori. Kisame strode over to the red-head and picked him up. When he looked over his shoulder at Anko he saw that Zetsu was getting back up.

"Zetsu."

"H-hai?" the black and white Vampire asked, turning his head slightly.

"I need you to carry Anko, if you can. Deidara's a bit traumatized, and Sasori's unconscious... Tobi is, well, not so good."

Zetsu's eyebrows furrowed back and he closed his eyes briefly. To Anko he instructed, "get on my back. You can't stay here anymore."

Anko didn't argue. She clung to Zetsu with all her might, her eyes always shifting toward Sasori. As the group hurried back to Hidan – Itachi feared that Pein might be making his way there – Kisame tried to contact his young ward.

"_Hidan?"_

"_Is Anko okay? Did anybody else get hurt? Are people in need of healing?"_

It took Kisame a moment to process all the questions, _"yes, Anko is okay. Everybody else is slightly damaged. Tobi and Sasori got it worse."_

"_What happened to them, seriously?"_

"_Tobi got crushed; his shoulders and back are either shattered or fractured in multiple places. Sasori is unconscious."_

"_Itachi? Deidara? Kakuzu? Zetsu? You?"_ Hidan queried, his voice frantic.

"_Everyone else is fine. And of course I'm fine. Zetsu might need you to check out his back though. I think he got elbowed pretty damn hard."_

"_Okay... okay... Konan's sleeping, by the way. She was freaking out so much that a put her to sleep."_

"_Hidan. Itachi is afraid Pein may be heading toward your house. Get Kurenai in your room if she's home."_

"_H-Hai."_

The connection broke.

* * *

Yay for cliffhanger-ish ending. Hope you like it. This story is ending in five chapters, to be followed swiftly by _Innocence's _sequel, _Strawberries & Cream_, as well as two more new stories about Hidan and Konan. I don't like this pairing, OH NO I DON'T _


	15. Chapter 14: Guardian Angel

Oh look guys. VAMP updated, which means Arre is alive and well.

However, I have some bad news. Naruto is loosing my interest by huge amounts daily. The manga right now is really boring. My thoughts at the end of it were "WOW, SASUKE'S ALIVE!" Whoopee-doo. I don't like Sasuke.

This story is four chapters from being complete. I'm not going to promise that the sequel, I.R.E, will actually be written. Just know that I **do** have a sequel in mind.

**

* * *

Chapter 14: Guardian Angel.**

"So this is how it will go then. The Vampires that will become 'sick' will do so over the course of the next ten days. Some of them will get sick-sick, others will have symptoms. Their partners will take them into the forests, traveling alongside the railroad track. They should reach the town we're having constructed for them before the rest of the Vampires do..." Shikaku informed his men before dropping back into his chair. Timeless, one of Fugaku's old friends, narrowed his eyes.

"Why are we not just wiping those scum off the map?"

Shikaku got in his face, "one: we made a deal with the Prince. Gotta' complaint, take it to him, personally. Two: I really don't want to face a revolt amongst the people. You know that some of their loved ones are Vampires. You should also know, seeing as you are one of Fugaku's old friends, that one of his own sons is a Vampire," Shikaku turned to the other men, "anyone else have a complaint?"

They shook their heads and muttered many variations of "no" under their breath.

"Good. Back to business. We will evacuate the Vampires. I have no doubt some of them will be upset about this; only the Prince and the ones involved know, and they are under strict instruction from their Prince not to inform anyone else. Hopefully this will make those of you that are _uninformed_ behave and stop whining to me."

Timeless' face turned red, and one younger man bolted out of his chair, fuming, "uniformed?! What's that supposed to mean, Captain Thatch?"

"What it means, is that some of you are uninformed of the treaty that our mayor made with their Prince. Those of you that are actually informed of this have yet refused to believe it, even when the mayor said it himself. If it were up to me... I would have all of _you_ exiled."

Several of the women present gasped but Shikaku ignored them.

"That's all for now; dismissed."

Once the Slayers – murmuring and bickering amongst themselves – were gone, he turned to his right-hand man, Raptor.

"What's got you all jumpy, Raptor?"

"I dunno' sir, it's just... I need to go for a jog. I'll come back later."

Shikaku didn't have time to think of a response, because Raptor was suddenly at the door and going off down the hall, leaving a trail of white behind him.

--

"Well, seeing as I beat the rest of them here... I might as well take care of the object of my hatred."

Hidan snarled viciously at Pein, crouching in front of Kurenai who held a very scared Konan close to her body. Already Pein had made an attack. Fortunately the only victim was Hidan's steaming wall.

"Get the hell out of here, Pein. I never did anything to you," Hidan hissed, briefly baring his fangs. Pein smirked, "oh yes you did."

"I didn't steal her from you, dumb-ass. She dumped you and _then _she realized I existed."

Pein's smirk turned to a scowl and he charged. Hidan flipped back from his crouched position and caught Pein in the chin with his feet. Pein, Hidan noticed, wasn't as acrobatic as he was, and so the ginger-head fell flat on his face from the blow. Had it been any other time, Hidan would've started laughing.

However, he resumed his crouched position, holding one hand in front of him defensively. If worse came to worse he would use his fangs... but they were a last resort. One bite and all his problems would be solved.

_'But then I'd be in it for murder. He should be in it for assault. Damn it, Slayer bastards. Not gonna' detain him just because a bunch of Vampires decided to deflect him... damn...'_

He ducked to avoid a punch and then thrust his head into Pein's stomach. The head butt was as successful as a head butt could be, and it sent Pein stumbling backwards before he fell. To Hidan's dismay Pein chuckled and rose to his feet again.

"The more you hit me the stronger I get. The stronger I get..." Pein suddenly thrust his hand forward, _"THE SOONER YOU DIE!"_

As the orb barreled toward Hidan he froze like a deer in the headlights. Behind him Konan broke free of Kurenai's grasp and wrapped her arms around him.

"_Konan! NO!"_ Kurenai screeched, reaching for the girl. Hidan unfroze too late.

--

There was a reason why he shared the name with a fast, ferocious animal. The forests were nothing to him. He breezed over fallen trees and wide streams – ran over the streams, actually.

But despite his name it was nothing related to the power he had hidden within him. His feet carried him to where he should have been all along, and he leapt from the edge of the forests into the run-down side of town. His taloned feet made grooves in the concrete roads before he exploded forward down the road, his destination clear in his mind though he had never been there before.

He leapt through the nearest window, shattering the glass, and activated what was always hidden.

--

The sound of shattering glass and a brilliant burst of light beat Pein's attack to Hidan.

But to Hidan it didn't make sense at all.

He had been aware of the swift approaching signature of a Vampire, but there was no such thing as a Vampire that could turn into an angelic being and appear out of nowhere. There was just no such thing.

However, standing in front of him, Kurenai and Konan was such a being. He – _'it _is_ a he, right?'_ - was protecting all three of them from a very pissed off Pein.

"You will go no further than this."

"And you're going to stop me?!"

"I already have."

Despite how hard Pein tried, nothing worked. Nothing got past the angel's wings. He flapped them once and Pein was sent careening into the far wall. The sound of a body thudding loudly against the wall made Hidan cringe, and instinctively he wrapped an arm around Konan – at his left – and the other around Kurenai – to his right.

The two girls huddled closer to him, tears streaming down Konan's face and Kurenai's expression making Hidan wonder if she was either extremely terrified or extremely pissed off. He voted for the latter.

The angel in front of them remained stock still, eyes focused on Pein's unmoving body. Cautiously the angel approached the ginger head before surrounding him with a white orb. He looked over his shoulder, sadly almost, at Konan.

"I'm sorry. I had to kill him."

Hidan stared.

Protruding through Pein's chest was a large, sharp white feather. The angel easily pulled the feather out of Pein's body, and he slumped to the floor, lifeless. The angel stared down at him, then jerked his head up.

"I'll be leaving now. Take care."

"W-wait! Who are you?"

The angel smiled at Hidan, his face hidden by bright white, "I am your Guardian Angel, sworn to protect you at your birth, but only when you need me."

Then he was gone, and not a moment too soon, because Kisame then burst into the room, breathing heavily.

"I could have sworn – well I'll be damned. He's dead."

Kisame stared blankly at Pein's body for a moment before hurrying over to Hidan, Sasori in his arms.

"Take a look at him first, kid. Konan, Kurenai, I need you two to move to the bed."

Hidan checked Sasori, _'nothing too bad, mostly power depletion and blood loss... he took some big hits though... broke his arm... HOLY shit!'_

When Hidan saw Tobi he abandoned Sasori and immediately fell into healing the young Vampire. The others stared at him, "but Sasori -"

"Sasori will fucking live! Tobi doesn't stand a chance if I don't heal him now!" Hidan snapped at Deidara, silently wondering why everyone thought Sasori was the one in danger. Through all the white around him Hidan managed to notice that Anko had joined Konan and Kurenai, and that she and her daughter were currently clinging to each other and weeping.

_'At least that bastard is dead... at least... at least I can save Tobi...'_

Hidan closed his misty white eyes tightly as thoughts of Sakura and that day came back to him. He remembered how he had failed to heal her.

"_Stop thinking about it Hidan. Just stop."_

"_But, Kisame I... I..."_

"_It was my own damn fault. Focus on healing Tobi. Let me do the remembering."_

"_..."_

Hidan knew that Kisame knew that he didn't believe Kisame would actually do any remembering, because Kisame was not the type of man to grieve over a death for very long.

Hidan shook his head and put more strength into healing Tobi. He glanced at Zetsu and wanted to rip his hair out.

_'This is going to be a long night...'

* * *

_*Does a happy dance* did you like? I hope so. Finally will also be updating. I really, REALLY need to finish that one, because now I know exactly how I want it to end.

By the way, yes you all know who the angel is, no he is not a new character. I shall give you some hints:

1) "he shared his name with a fast, ferocious animal"

2) "taloned feet"

3) "trail of white"

And those are all the hints I'm giving you :)


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